Sikh boxer wants to 'pave the way for other girls'
FightzoneA pioneering female boxer is being touted as a future world champion as she prepares for a fight in her home city of Hull.
Charan Kaur Dhesi is one of Britain's few Sikh female professionals and will appear at the Connexin Live arena at the end of May.
The 21-year-old took up the sport in her early teens after watching her brothers practising at the East Hull Amateur Boxing Club.
"It's something not many women do, especially an Asian girl. I want to pave the way for the other girls as well," she told BBC Radio Humberside Sport.
East Hull head coach Sean Ross recalled the then 13-year-old standing by the doorway as her brothers trained.
"I basically went up to her and said 'why don't you join in instead of [standing] around watching', the rest is history," he said.
"She went on to excel in the sport and went on to international competitions with Team England.
"I knew definitely 100% she would make it."
Dhesi admitted to being nervous ahead of the bout on 30 May.
"It's overwhelming, but it's exciting because I'm putting all the graft in in the gym, so I know when it comes to fighting I'm going to be able to prove what I'm here to do," she said.
"For me, it pushes me and it shows me how many people believe in me."
As an amateur, Dhesi won national titles and European and world medals.
She is being managed by former Hull City footballer Curtis Woodhouse, who won the British light-welterweight championship after taking up professional boxing.
He described her as a "superstar" and said he was confident she would become Hull's first professional world champion.
"That star quality she's got is very difficult to come across," Woodhouse said.
"It comes from the work that you put in, it's not fake confidence, it's real confidence from 10 years of hard work."
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