Brighton boxing beginner fights for cancer charity

Dan Canales, who works for Govia Thameslink Railway at the Brighton station Travel Centre, will be boxing to fight cancer this Saturday [15 June], in his first ever competitive bout. Dan, 38, who lives near Steyning in West Sussex, has already raised over £500 for Cancer Research UK during his training.

Dan has joined the Brighton Ultra White Collar Boxing Scheme, set up specifically to support the cancer research charity. The scheme provides volunteers with a free eight-week training course at a boxing club, and puts evenly-matched opponents together at a professionally regulated event at Brighton’s Grand Hotel.

The training is designed for beginners like Dan, who has never boxed before. In fact, Dan admits he isn’t a big fan of boxing – he prefers motor racing.

Dan explains: “I decided to do something special in memory of my wonderful friend Anita who lost her battle with cancer, after years of fighting, last October. If she could have come to this event I know she would have cheered me on and had a good laugh at me as well! My friend fought this disease hard and I’m planning on fighting hard in the ring to honour her fight!

“Training is really hard but it’s worth it. The organisers provided boxing classes by an instructor or coach for two hours a week. I’ve learnt some moves and hopefully these will help me defeat my opponent – I only found out who that is last night! I also signed up with a different gym to get extra classes.

“I respect boxing more now that I’ve trained and done some sparring. You need to be mentally and physically strong. For example, about three weeks ago while sparring I got hit on my left ribs really hard. It was so painful I thought they were broken. They were badly bruised but I had to carry on as normal. They still hurt even now - but I learned how to cover my ribs more!”

He added: “Thanks to all the generous donors who have taken the time to visit my JustGiving page. We all need to keep supporting Cancer Research to stop our friends and family being taken too soon by this horrible disease.”

To donate to Daniel’s appeal visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/daniel-canales1.

The Brighton Ultra White Collar Boxing Scheme has raised over £330,000 in total, and participants in Saturday’s event alone have raised over £14,000. For more information see https://www.ultrawhitecollarboxing.co.uk/locations/brighton/

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