A Hull man is about to step into the ring for a charity boxing bout in memory of his best friend who tragically passed away from cancer last year.
Luke Travis, 35, will be taking part in Three Twos Boxing White Collar Fight Night at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel, in Ferensway, at 6.30pm on Friday, April 25. The money he has raised is going to Dove House Hospice in memory of his friend Emilee Moore.
Emilee was just 23 years old when she died at Dove House in August. In a previous tribute, Luke described her as brave and incredibly funny, recalling: "She was just so fun to be around and made everything funny. Even in the most serious situations, you can guarantee you will start laughing.
"That was the beauty of her, even when she knew she had cancer and when she found out she wasn't going to get better, she never lost that bubbly side.
"In the hospice, she had the nurses absolutely howling. When you visited her, you knew how poorly she was, but at the same time she was still Emilee."
Ahead of the fight, which is his first ever, Luke said: "I'm excited, to be fair. I was a little bit anxious at first, but I've had Tony Booth training me and I've been training pretty hard for the past five and half months now."
He added: "The event has helped me a lot. This event is more than just fundraising. This is me grieving in my own way. That's helping me, as well as helping the charity."
Luke, who will be in the red corner, is set to fight Nathan Jones. He said organising the fight was simpler than he expected.
He said: "It was surprisingly easy - I thought I would struggle selling tickets, but we sold out in days. The whole event was sold out in two days.
"I was given some extra tickets, which sold out in a matter of hours. When it comes to ticket sales, we have absolutely smashed it."
Unfortunately, Luke said the fundraiser on Just Giving - which is still accepting donations - has "not been doing the best" but things will hopefully pick up.
However, Luke said the event organisers Three Twos Boxing have been very helpful with raising awareness and have done "an absolutely amazing job".
Although the Fight Night on April 25 has sold out, you can follow Three Twos Boxing on Facebook for detail on future events
