Former Love Island contestant AJ Bunker has detailed her plan to eventually set up a boxing academy tailored to people who are scared to walk into a gym.
Bunker, 28, makes her ring debut on Saturday night as she steps in on short notice to fight OnlyFans star Elle Brooke at Kingpyn's 'Settling Scores' event. Bunker has criticised Brooke's trash talk after her original opponent Astrid Wett withdrew from their fight due to safety concerns, with Brooke threatening to "kill" her rival and even taunting her with a coffin during their press conference.
Having found a passion for combat sports this year, Bunker explained why she wants to set up her own gym in the future. "I've fallen in love with combat sports and let's be honest... I don't look like the type of girl to be doing this sport," she told Mirror Fighting. "Everyone is like 'what's a Love Island girl' doing this for. I want to inspire and influence those kind of girls, the LGBT community and anyone that needs to learn self confidence.
"One day I really want to set up my own boxing academy that welcomes all types of people. The people who wouldn't walk into a normal boxing academy right now because it's male-dominated and quite scary. I want to have a centre that people can come in that's inclusive with no limitations where people can learn to box."
Bunker was already training for a fight earlier this year as she was booked to face Playboy model Carla Howe at a Celeb MMA event in June. Howe kicked Bunker and scratched her face during their staredown for the fight, something Bunker wants to get revenge for.
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"I definitely still want to take that fight because I feel like it's personal now," she added. "I would have fought anyway because I love the sport but she came for me and there's unfinished business there. I'm not going to be happy until I've either knocked or choked her out so I still want that one to happen for sure.
"MMA was fresher for me [than boxing] and I was loving it, especially jiu-jitsu as I was naturally a good grappler. When we were training I was choking men out, I took James Lock down and he's about 6'4". I was choking professional coaches and they were like 'how long have you been training for?' I think it's the way I used to fight my brothers when I was younger."
