NATHAN Joseph says bareknuckle boxing saved his life.

Joseph ballooned up to 24 stone as he battled several diseases – and says it was fighting that got his life back on track.

Formerly a professional boxer, Joseph says the challenge of bareknuckle – among the fastest growing sports in the country – made him decide he had to make changes.

"I have had a hard few years," said the 38-year-old Bradford battler, whose next fight is at the Echo Arena in Liverpool on Saturday, March 24.

"I've been in and out of hospital with a blocked colon, diabetes and I had a cancer scare.

"I was forever vomiting and the doctors didn't seem to know what was wrong with me.

"There was a spell where I didn't get out of bed for four months and ended up weighing 24 stone. I was depressed and I thought about ending it all.

"It just got to the stage where I decided I'd had enough – and it was the bareknuckle boxing that helped get me through it.

"That gave me a goal. I decided I wanted to get back in the ring and fight again.

"I started going to the gym at four o'clock in the morning to walk on the treadmill and took on a vegan diet.

"I've lost seven-and-a-half stone and I've never felt better. I've got through it and I'm hoping my story will inspire other people and make them believe they can get through hard times as well."

Joseph has had four bareknuckle fights over the last year or so.

In bareknuckle bouts, boxers' fists are protected by only hand wraps rather than gloves and fights produce exciting action.

Surely the most dramatic fight last year was Joseph's up-and-down scrap with Billy Hawthorn.

There was a simultaneous knockdown in the opening seconds – both fighters hit the floor after landing and taking punches at the same time – before Hawthorn went on to grab victory.

Joseph, who trains with Jordan Scholfield at the Iron Arms Gym in Heckmondwike, had won their previous two fights and said: "I would love to fight him again.

"I don't do bareknuckle boxing just to take part. I want to take over.

"People have written me off and I've found out who my friends are over the last few years – but the people who have written me off and told me I was rubbish don't realise how determined I am."