Ring girl overcame ex-boyfriend killing her brother to become Hall of Famer
When Katie Gunn’s ‘alter ego’ takes to the ring at BKB 32 at the O2 today, it will signify another triumph over tragedy that would have scarred many people for life.
Gunn isn’t your average ring girl. If you had told the personal trainer from Milton Keynes 10 years ago that she would now be a successful ring girl – a Hall of Fame one no less – she would have laughed in your face.
By then she had suffered the unspeakable pain of losing her brother Kevin when he was stabbed to death by her ex-boyfriend. Gunn had ended the relationship with Keith Orchard, who was jailed for life with a minimum of 16 years behind bars in 2008, because he had become controlling and possessive.
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“He’d stalk me at work, tell me what to wear. I couldn’t wear anything above the knee otherwise he’d call me promiscuous,” she recalls in a candid interview with Daily Star Sport.
“I wasn’t allowed to do anything. I left him [Orchard] and his way of getting me back was to go and stab my brother.”
Gunn went through another ordeal when a subsequent partner subjected the mum-of-two to domestic abuse.
“He was very violent. So I went from one guy who killed my brother to another who beat the s*** out of me basically,” she recalls. “I had so many knockbacks. I wasn’t dating, I was putting the kids first because I didn’t want to make any bad decisions for my children, so I turned to work.
“That’s why I was very nervous about becoming a ring girl. I’d had it drummed into me so much – ‘don’t be revealing’ – then I’m in the ring in a leotard. What I’m doing now couldn’t be a bigger step forward.
“I’ve got a lot of male friends, I’m a bit of a ladette, so being in such a male-dominated industry wasn’t a problem, even if I was reluctant to be a ring girl at first.
“I had such a close relationship with my brothers. My second brother [Michael] died a few years ago so I don’t have any brothers now. But, growing up, they helped build my confidence, they were great.
“Going into the boxing industry, I felt quite close to them because one of my brothers did boxing and my dad did boxing too. I felt like I had my brother in my ear telling me I'm a star.
“Before he died, he used to say, 'I don't know what it is with you but you're going to be someone'. I think if life didn't go the way it did, I'd be a lot further forward. For a long time, I didn't push for it, I just stayed in my lane.”
Gunn started out by being a hostess at fight nights, collecting money for charity from punters, before being urged to give being a ring girl a try.
“I sort of fell into it as a part-time job at weekends,” she explains. “I didn’t think I could do it. I didn’t think bending over in a leotard was for me but I plucked up the courage. I just fitted into it and tried to build up a good reputation
“It was like a new identity. If you’d told me 10 years ago that I’d be able walk into a ring at the O2 and be front of stage, I wouldn’t have believed you.
“I don’t know where it came from, this alter ego just came out. I interacted with the crowd and fitted in, it felt like second nature to me, I never felt nervous.
“It’s something I never thought I would do. I didn’t go to raves or festivals. I don’t actually like big crowds, yet I’m part of a massive production.”
Gunn has worked across various promotions, including Cage Warriors, but feels she has found a home in BKB, the UK-based bare-knuckle boxing company that is going from strength to strength.
The 35-year-old is the organisation’s main ring girl and is proud of it. She has no time for naysayers who reckon ring girls are a sign of sexism and even exploitation. She was delighted when pleas for them to be scrapped were largely resisted by combat sports.
“The females have always been a part of the production because it’s such a male-dominated sport,” argues Gunn, who last year had the honour of being inducted into the bare-knuckle boxing Hall of Fame, which covers promotions in both the United States and the UK.
“I feel the women bring a bit of sass. There was a campaign to put everyone off having girls at these sporting events, saying they’re not needed, that it’s exploitation, but it’s their choice to do it.
“There are people out there doing porn and this is nothing like it, there’s no relation at all. They didn't ask the audience what they wanted, it annoyed me a little bit.
“I’ll admit, I was reluctant to get in a leotard and bend over getting through the ropes. I didn’t feel confident doing that until the adulation came through. It boosts your confidence, you’d be lying if you said it didn’t.
“I’m glad people like BKB and Cage Warriors still have them because it’s important for girls to have a place there. It brings a bit of eye candy between the blood and gore!
“The attire is changing. The very revealing outfits are a bit dated now. If you look at women back in the day, it was pretty much thong bikinis. It’s classier now.”
There is a line she won’t cross, though. A number of ring girls, boxers and MMA fighters have become stars of adult subscription site OnlyFans, but Gunn will not be following suit.
“I don’t want to sell myself,” she explains. “I’ve got a 13-year-old son so going on OnlyFans to pay bills is not feasible. I care how it affects him when he goes to school.
“And no offence to the women out there [on OnlyFans] but I don’t want to be in the glorified porn industry. Yes, I’m a ring girl, but I don’t want my kids to think their mum pays the bills by selling her a***.
“I’ve got my son, I’ve had brothers, I know how men think. It’s just not a way of making money for me. Instead, I wanted to get into the fitness industry by becoming a PT, that’s so much more me.”
As for the spectacle of bare-knuckle boxing itself, Gunn loves it and describes BKB as a “little family”.
“I love a bit of bone-on-bone action, you can’t beat it,” she declares. “While it’s boxing, I think it’s more like MMA because you just don’t know what’s going to happy.”
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