Fight Club: Brawling for Safer Streets

by jordan | May 15, 2008 at 06:42 am | 162 views | 1 comment

One neighborhood in Kingston, Jamaica, has come up with a novel way to curb street violence: a weekly boxing event. Local amateur combatants square off each Thursday in a makeshift ring, and so far it seems to be working... Street crime rates are beginning to drop.

People who live in the area decided to help themselves, and used violence, once a problem, as the cure.

They're bringing local people together for a weekly street boxing contest.

It's entertainment that sees everyone involved, from young boys and girls doing it for fun through to serious contenders.

And the road becomes a colourful, noisy, makeshift ring as punters bet on the amateur fighters.

Dancehall and ganja

Boxing has never seen anything like this."Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls - are you ready to rumble...?!" yells John, the commentator.

This ring is unlike anything I've ever seen before. It's got rope - although that's about the only thing that looks regulation - and there's asphalt where the canvas should be.

The corners are steel pans cut in half with rubber tyres round them to offer some form of protection, and the posts are kept in place with concrete.

As for the atmosphere: imagine boxing mixed with a street party - dancehall booms from the soundsystem and clouds of ganja fill the night sky.

"Everybody is talking about Thursday night at the fights! They're just dying for Thursday to come along," says one regular.