DON’T tell Denise Castle what she can’t do. Don’t tell her she can’t switch sports in her 40s and fight champions. Don’t tell her she can’t train through pregnancy and fight just eight weeks after giving birth. And most definitely don’t tell her she can’t fight at 51. Because, whatever you think of her doing these things, she will find a way to do them, with or without your blessing. On August 31, two months before her 52nd birthday, Castle will travel from Bournemouth to Bangkok to fight Japan’s Sana Hazuki. If she wins, there will be one item left on her bucket list: to box at home.
Castle, though, is not licensed by the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) and, given her age, it is unlikely she ever will be. Still, she has satisfied the requirements of the governing bodies in Thailand, Japan, the Czech Republic and the United Arab Emirates, where she has boxed, as well as the WBC, who have attached a belt to her 10-rounder with Hazuki, and who have twice before approved her as a ‘world’ title challenger.