Gypsy boxer, 7: When I fight it’s for me, my name and my family

A BOY, cheek swollen and sweat spiking his hair into tufts, leans against the side of a caravan.

His young fists are enclosed in boxing gloves for a sparring session in which he and an older child have been trading blows for 35 minutes.

A wild right-hander causes the boy to fall and he smacks his head against the concrete. His dad pulls him to his feet and he bravely carries on.

This is a scene from a documentary about two travelling families and their attitude to fighting — and Francie Doherty the bruised youngster, is just SEVEN years old.

His opponent is nine, about a foot taller and neither wear head guards.

Afterwards, Francie's dad Hughie says proudly: "Francie loves fighting. He's fighting all day.

"I've seen a nine-year-old, really good fighter, hit my little boy. He hit his head on the concrete and got up with a lump on his forehead.

"He kept going and sparred on for 35 minutes. It was the best I've ever seen between two children.

"My son conquered it in the end. At the end he said, 'Daddy, I'll do whatever it takes to win'.

"You think, 'Yeah, you're one of us, you're going to want to fight'. It's a disease that's passed on."

Little Francie is not forced to fight but he tells how he loves fighting in language clearly learned from his elders.

He says: "I like a fair fight, not a dirty fight. No biting, no pinching like a girl. When I'm in a fight I remember it's not just for me, it's for my family and my name.

"I want to be a fighter like my daddy. I'm reared up like a fighter."

Director Leo Maguire spent four years living with Gypsies on their static site, gaining unprecedented access to the secretive communities. The result, Gypsy Blood: True Stories, is on Channel 4 on Thursday at 10pm.

The Dohertys are Irish traveller royalty — Hughie, 29, is the son of Francie "The Punk" Doherty, once one of the most feared bare-knuckle boxers in the land.

Hughie acknowledges that times are changing and he is keen for his sons to go to school and learn to read as he never did.

But he also wants them to carry on the family tradition of fighting for honour. He is already training his 18-month-old son Charlie — barely able to walk — to spar against his pads.

Hughie, who reckons he was "born with a black eye and my hands up", says: "Sometimes it's hard to watch a little boy fighting a boy who's too good for him, and he's getting hurt.

"Sometimes you've got to stand and watch and see what he's like under pressure.

"If someone talks to my son like he's a fool and he didn't stand up for himself, the first thing I'd do is hit my son, then I'd hit the fella who talked to him like that. If I see him running away or crying I'd give him a good checking, a slapping, explain to him he can't do that. If you pump it into his head to be a man, fight, don't ever jack it in, then he won't.

"If my son couldn't fight I'd have a DNA test straight away because I'd think, 'How could he be like this? I can fight, how can I breed a son like this?'"

Also in the film, Fred Butcher, a Romany Gypsy, admits he has battled so hard in fights, he wonders whether his opponents have survived.

He says: "You worry afterwards, 'I hope I haven't killed that person — I hope he can go home and see his kids'."

Fred, 37, almost died in spring 2010 after he went after a rival and was attacked with a machete and a baseball bat. He needed 360 stitches.

Fred's son Freddy, nine, is sensitive and hates fighting.

Fred admits feeling guilty about his two and a half year spell in prison for fighting, which traumatised Freddy, then a toddler, so much that he became mute.

Freddy still worries deeply about his father, saying: "I love him a lot. I don't like him fighting, it's really bad.

"If he fights, he gets badder and badder and he might die."

But Fred insists he would risk everything, including leaving his children without a father, to avenge his machete attackers.

He says: "I would be prepared to go to prison for the man that cut me up. For revenge, I would give up anything. Anything."

Director Leo insists he was not there to judge the gypsies.

He says: "All gypsy boys are taught to be tough and defend themselves from a young age. It's in their culture.

"This tradition of breeding tough fighting men stems from them being a marginalised and victimised community. They often have to defend themselves.

"I felt I was there to document what I saw and do it with humility and respect.

"Yes, it's a story about bare-knuckle fighting gypsies, but I hope it's deeper than that.

"It's a study of childhood, being a father, coming of age and the loss of innocence."