Team Agoge bare knuckle boxing star Alex Wilson ready for his biggest test
Cleckheaton fighter Alex Wilson travels to Cardiff for his eighth bare knuckle boxing match on Saturday against ex-UFC ‘Welsh Dragon’ Jack Marshman at the Welsh capital’s Vale Sports Arena.
It is his second bout under contract with Anglo-American promoter BYB and follows his first-round stoppage of Matthew Morton on a Leeds show last October, writes James Bovington.
“My message to Marshman is not to underestimate me. It’s my longest bare-knuckle fight yet. Five three-minute rounds.” said Wilson.
"Fights don’t often go the distance, though, and I’m looking to make a statement that I belong with the best. Who knows where a win will take me?’
A former student of Whitcliffe Mount and a father to two young girls, 29-year-old Wilson lives in Cleckheaton and works both as a personal trainer and as needed in his family’s building company.
He describes himself as ‘a decent footballer’ who began boxing at 13, but didn’t have a scored bout until 18.
"It was following recovery from a broken leg when to be honest I’d become disillusioned with boxing that I was asked to give bare knuckle a go,” he explained.
"This coincided with me starting training with Danny Turton and frankly it’s owing to him that my career took off. I now work with Danny and Natalie as a coach at his Dewsbury gym and am also grateful to the many generous local people and companies who are my sponsors.”
Turton himself has been busy settling his gym Team Agoge into new premises.
"We’ve been here two months now having had to move from our previous location for reasons of practicality,” said Danny.
"But it’s gone well. our new place is smaller, but we’re self-contained. We’re busy with up to 150 people attending various sessions each week. We concentrate on boxing and kickboxing and have classes for different age and ability groups plus ladies only.
"I want to develop the club as an asset for Dewsbury and Batley given how there seems to be general agreement that combat sports are an excellent way to promote good physical and mental health with clubs fostering integration for different community groups.”
Turton, 37, learned karate from age six and became a European kickboxing champion at 25 in 2012.
"I’m currently superheavyweight UK champion with the ISKA sanctioning body,’ explained Turton, who is a veteran of 90 fights.
"We’ve 30 competing fighters at Team Agoge and are currently preparing six for qualification bouts for the ISKA European championships in Italy in October.
"But I’m most keen to develop our community engagement programme and it would be great to have funds for a minibus that could get people to the gym from further afield.
“I’m a father. My daughter Farrah is 10 and loves training here. She’s already had four bouts. We’re about creating opportunities for more young people. But our immediate priority is supporting Alex as he goes for the fight of his life.”
Anyone interested in training with Turton and Wilson at Team Agoge can contact them via the website https://www.teamagoge.co.uk/ or by calling 07736 686040 or by e-mail at [email protected]