WE LEARN TO FIGHT FROM THE AGE OF 4
EXCLUSIVE ED GLEAVE TV Editor YOUNG gypsies are being trained to fight from just four years old.
Learning self-defence is central to the culture of travellers who believe it’s a vital skill.
Eleven-year-old twins Abraham and Johnny look up to stars including World Heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, 28, himself a former traveller.
Abraham said: “We’ve been going to boxing since we were a very young age. We started off with kickboxing and then when we were six we started going to boxing clubs to train.
The twins have been mentored by professional cagefighter Tony ‘The Rhino’ Giles for years.
Abraham said: “Tony gives us lessons in cagefighting at the weekends. It’s about self-defence. When you’re older and you’re in a random place and you get some teenagers coming up to you and bullying you, you’ve got to be able to stick up for yourself. You’ve got to stand together and stand up for your rights.”
Johnny added: “The travellers have taken over boxing. Tyson Fury beat Klitschko… It’s in our culture.”
The twins’ cousin Jack-Jo, eight, is also a fan of boxing. He said: “Someone I know called George is amazing at boxing. He got in the ring with this boy and went bang, bang, bang and made him fall over and busted his nose.”
Abraham, Johnny and Jack-Jo are protective of each other and have had to use their skills in the past.
Jack-Jo (inset, below) said: “When I was about four I was walking along and this boy ran up behind me and had me in a head lock. Abraham and Johnny came out with golf sticks and they were banging the back of his head.”
Abraham added: “Jack-Jo would have been dead, he really would. He was choking him.”
The trio regularly mix with non-travellers, who they call gorgers, when they attend school.
But their culture has made them a target for abuse.
Jack-Jo said: “They bully us. Sometimes you have people coming over to you and saying, ‘You’re a pikey’. ”
Abraham added: “You have to walk away and not take it.”
TV viewers will get an insight into their lives in new series Gypsy Kids: Our Secret World.
The lads are hoping that it will help to end bullying.
Jack-Jo said: “Now we’re on this show people might see us on the telly and then come up to us. It might mean they don’t bully us any more.” Abraham added: “I think the show will help people learn more about who we are and stop being rude.” Abraham, Johnny and Jack-Jo live on a traveller site at Oak Lane in Crays Hill, Essex. It is on the border of Dale Farm which made headlines in 2011 when the local council spent £8million trying to evict travellers. Gypsy Kids: Our Secret World continues on Thursday at 9pm on Channel 5.