A kickboxing champion who works night shifts in a factory said it was frustrating to train at the same level as Olympic athletes without receiving recognition for his sport.

Leon Dunnett, from Badwell Ash in Suffolk, is a two-time world champion but has to juggle his daily training with his job.

He said that while he was delighted to see the medals won by Team Britain’s Olympians, he wanted similar recognition for his excellence in his own sport, which he hoped would one day be a focus of the Games.

“I love the adrenaline, it’s like a roller coaster ride,” he said.

The 27-year-old started the sport at the age of four in his father Peter’s kickboxing club.

He currently trains at the Combat Kickboxing Academy in Thurston, run by his father, who has been his trainer throughout his career.

“I’ve always lived and breathed this sport, from the age of three or four to winning a world title (and) reaching the peak of my career,” Dunnett said.

He said he was still working night shifts at British Sugar in Bury St. Edmunds because kickboxing wasn’t enough.

Speaking about his observations at the Olympics, he said: “It’s nice to see people succeed in their sport, but for me it’s frustrating because I’ve trained as hard as she has all my life, dedicated my life to sport and, like her, reached the pinnacle of my career and yet still have to think about a job and hardly have any media exposure.”

“I remember showing my diet plan to someone at work and they said, ‘Oh, it’s not that easy to show up and punch someone, is it?'”

Dunnett trains twice a day, six days a week to stay in top shape.

“It’s hard work, hard slog, especially when you have to combine it with a full-time job, shift work and family life. That adds even more to your success,” he said.

Dunnett took a break from exercise during the pandemic and returned to the sport to lose weight.

His father said it showed his son’s determination as an athlete.

“He is the best, he gives his all,” he said.

“He works 12-hour shifts, trains twice a day, every day. When he sets his mind to something, he does it.”

Dunnett is also a coach at his father’s club and hopes to inspire the next generation of the sport.

“When I’m not fighting, I benefit a lot and it’s very rewarding to get other people titles, to give them fights,” he said.

He hopes that kickboxing will be declared an Olympic discipline in the future, but fears that this is still “a long way off”.

“I sat there and watched Team GB bring home some gold medals,” he said.

“I would love to sit there in 10 or 20 years and watch them kickbox.”