Friends become foes in a charity boxing match

Two men who have known each other 20+ years will put their friendship to the side for three rounds in March in an epic charity boxing match.

What’s more, Jonathan Parry and Daniel Rawlinson are even colleagues in their work as door supervisors at the clubs and pubs of the area.

Raising money for North Wales’ only children’s hospice, Tŷ Gobaith in the Conwy Valley, Jonathan, known as JP, has a very personal reason to choose the charity.

After suffering the death of a son in 2017, JP was able to access the bespoke Snowflake Suite at the hospice which allows families to spend final precious time with their loved one and begin the grieving process.

“It’s still raw for me,” said JP.

“I struggle to talk about it, but am forever grateful for the work the hospice does for local families.

“I’ve been wanting to do something for years to say thank you and help out, this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

“It started off as banter on the door one night between Dan and I, and now we’re going to get in the ring and have it,” he said.

The two heavyweights will square off in three two minute rounds at Llandudno’s Broadway Boulevard on Saturday 22nd March in an action-packed afternoon of Mixed Martial Arts bouts called Octagon Wars, hosted by the Primal MMA Academy, Dyserth.

Looking ahead to the fight, JP, who is 45 years-old commented: “I’ve been training hard for the last six weeks and have dropped nearly two stone in weight.

“It’s not going to be a tickle, I’m going in there to knock him out!”

Opponent Dan Rawlinson is 15 years JP’s junior, so it will be a fight of youth versus experience.

Dan said: “We’ve both got children ourselves and I have close friends who have also received care from Tŷ Gobaith – so they were the easy choice for our charity.

“We’re donating our ticket money and there will be collection buckets available on the day too.

“I’m looking forward to doing battle and sure I’ll beat JP quickly.

“We’ll leave it all in the ring though and still be friends.”

Co-promoter Bobby Pallet, himself a professional Mixed Martial Arts fighter and former world champion, said: “This is our fourth Octagon Wars event with Primal and we can’t wait to see JP and Dan step into the octagon for an entertaining scrap.

“We’ve got 20 fights lined up on the day, but know the two lads will pull in lots of fans and raise a great amount for the charity.

“Let’s get it on.”

Tŷ Gobaith fundraiser Sian Golding said: “Good luck to both JP and Dan.

“We’re very grateful to the guys and Primal for having us as their adopted charity.

“Every penny raised will go directly to helping local children and families with life threatening conditions to live their best lives with our nursing care, support and counselling”

• Tickets for Octagon Wars at Broadway Boulevard on 22nd March are £35 and available from Wells Gym, Llandudno (01492) 877402, Primal MMA in Dyserth on 07530 927200 or the fighters themselves. Doors open 2pm with first bout 3.30pm.

ABOUT HOPE HOUSE

Hope House Children’s Hospices provide specialist nursing care and support to more than 750 children, and their families, who live in Shropshire, Cheshire, North and Mid Wales. We have two hospices – Hope House in Oswestry and Tŷ Gobaith in Conwy.

Our dedicated teams support families from diagnosis, throughout the lifetime of their child and beyond. We are here for every mum, dad, brother and sister.

At the end of a child’s life we are here to make sure their final moments are as comfortable as possible and that their family says goodbye in their own way and in their own time.

We are also here to comfort families and offer bereavement support, whether we’ve cared for their child during their illness, or they have turned to us after their child’s sudden death through any circumstances at all.

It costs £10 million every year to run our services. Approximately two month’s income comes from statutory sources and for the other 10 months of the year we are dependent on public support.

For more information contact Hope House Tŷ Gobaith Communications Officer, Joel Garner on joel.garner@hopehouse.org.uk or 07867273152 in office hours.