No to children boxing

My good friend Perry Mequi continues his campaign against boxing. And Mequi, a former chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission and track and field bronze medalist in the 1958 Asian Games, is more forceful in opposing children boxing.

There are of course many sides to this debate. Mequi pretty much states his objections in an email sent to Tina Monzon-Palma, Executive Director of the Bantay Bata Foundation of ABS-CBN.

In his letter, Mequi says that the public furor over the potential psychological harm that could be inflicted on Jan Jan (the six-year- old boy who did the “macho dance” in a program hosted by Willie Revillame in another network) in performing like a macho dancer is much (less) than the physical, psychological, health and moral damage that children boxing could have on youngsters. This is an enlightened position of renowned medical doctors of the American Medical Association, the British Medical Association (BMA) and similar associations of 12 other countries.

Mequi adds, ”furthermore, the Vatican in its newspaper, Il Oservatore Romano, editorialized that boxing, where the intent of the protagonists is to inflict corporal damage on the opponent, is (neither) ethical nor moral.”

Mequi says, “ a cursory review of the literature will reveal that boxing poses great risk and more so to young children. Yet, the Department of Education, convinced by the “national” obsession of so called sports leaders that boxing could win for the country its first ever Olympic gold medal, has blindly included boxing in the Palarong Pambansa. And worse, even young Filipino girls are now being encouraged and lured to take up boxing, a development which is entirely foreign and contrary to our cultural tradition of Filipino women exemplified by Maria Clara.”

There are many who share Mequi’s thoughts. Lehigh Valley Ramblings, a section in Lehigh Valley News, a Pennsylvania newspaper, chastisedOorganizers of a boxing program for five-year olds in Allentown in May 2008. The piece was entitled, “Boxing for 5 Year-Olds? Is Everyone in Allentown Nutz?

The article starts by stating that boxing has been banned as a school sport in most of the U.S. since the 1950’s. The American Academy of Pediatrics and American Medical Association both advocate that no one under the age of 18 be allowed to participate. The BMA agrees and has these two concerns: 1. Children have little awareness of risk, specifically the risk of chronic encephalopathy, which develops only after a lag period measured in decades or more; and 2. There is no place in contemporary society for a youth sport which has, as its primary goal, the infliction of acute brain damage on an opponent.

Weighing in too is BBC News which referred to its campaign in 1999 of distributing thousands of leaflets to councils (local government units) to pass to schools and sports clubs, waning of the dangers of sustaining brain injury (by engaging in boxing).

But, according to the BBC, the Amateur Boxing Association has attacked the move, saying boxing can benefit children. And former heavyweight fighter Henry Cooper said it would be a “shame” to ban children from the sport.

The BMA’s leaflet, called “Boxing packs a punch,” says boxing causes brain damage by causing the brain to knock against the skull, harming blood vessels, nerves and brain tissue. It also states that boxing can lead to brain hemorrhage, the leading cause of boxing deaths, as well as permanent sight and hearing loss. And it says helmets may not protect against injury. The BMA adds that boxing enthusiasts say children can learn how to channel their aggression through the sport. But it argues that there are many other sports which can teach the same skills and do not pose such a threat to the brain.

BMA’s head of health policy, Dr. Vivienne Nathanson, reiterates the organization’s position: “We don’t believe that children can make an informed decision about the dangers of boxing.”

Followers of martial arts in general defend the boxing sport. Chuck Spears, an analyst of Mixed Martial Arts, says, in today’s grown male, a controlled boxing regimen offers an incredibly dynamic workout which offers benefits such as fat loss, muscle gain, functional strength, reflex and agility.

Spears says, whether you’re learning to box for fitness or for sport, there is absolutely no deviation in the application of proper boxing techniques. Poor technique leads to injured boxers, plain and simple.

We took up boxing at nine years under Cely Villanueva. We had Cely’s son, Anthony, who would later win the Olympic silver medal in boxing in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, as our sparring partner. Our dad said it was good for us to know even the basics of self defense, and boxing helped improved hand-eye coordination and increased one’s self confidence.

I guess this long-running debate has still a long way to go.