Boxer to fight for air ambulance that treated him

Daniel Bainger was worried that after his road crash he was never going to be able to box again

A keen boxer said he feels "fit and ready" to take part in a charity fight in aid of an air ambulance service which transported him to hospital following a serious injury.

Daniel Bainger, 21, from Northampton, was two months away from a bout to raise money for the Air Ambulance Service when he damaged his spine and broke several vertebrae in a motorcycle crash in January 2024.

He said he feels like he "jinxed" himself for wanting to raise funds for the charity before he needed it.

Mr Bainger added that Saturday's bout was his way of "giving back".

Daniel Bainger (right) says boxing is his hobby and he is now "fitter than ever"

On 15 January 2024, an icy morning, Mr Bainger was riding his motorcycle to work - where he did "everything I could to try and keep myself as safe as possible" by wearing protective clothing and by going a safer route - when he was involved in a collision.

The air ambulance was called and within 17 minutes he was taken to a hospital in Coventry, a journey that would normally take an hour by road.

At the time, Mr Bainger was training for a charity match for the service.

"I was devastated I wasn't going to be able to fight. I do feel like I possibly jinxed myself a little bit."

He added that a few days before the accident he was talking to a friend, who asked him why he had chosen the charity.

"I said, 'I'm a biker, it's a dangerous thing to be doing,' and then literally a week later I was in the helicopter."

He said he was knocked unconscious in the accident: "I remember waking up and being in pain. I knew something was seriously wrong. I was worried I was paralysed."

Mr Bainger (right) boxes up to six times a week

After being taken to hospital, he was operated on and ended up with two titanium rods and six screws in his back to support his damaged spine.

Mr Bainger also suffered a fractured ankle, a lacerated liver and bruised lungs, and found out he was "millimetres away from paralysis".

He added: "I've made as much as a recovery that is possible. I've trained very hard for a couple of months, I feel very fit and ready."

Mr Bainger said he hopes to raise over £1,000 for the Air Ambulance Service.