By ERWIN CHLANDA
Nearly 30 Territory boxers and possibly two from South Australia will contest an open-air tournament at the Youth and Community Centre, at the base on Anzac Hill, under lights on Saturday.
Matt Moss (red) and Marcus Nelson battling it out.
It’s an amateur boxing event held one or twice a year in Alice Springs, and has attracted boxers from all Australian states except Tasmania.
COVID threw a spanner in the works this year, says organiser Mark Nixon.
It will be the ninth tournament since 2015 staged by the Alice-based Red Desert Dustup.
Each bout will consist of three two-minute rounds.
Juniors – under 18 – will be matched by weight, experience and age.
Over-18s will be matched by weight and experience.
The competitors will be aged 13 to 40.
Mr Nixon says 18 of the boxers will be locals. The remainder will be from Darwin and Tennant Creek.
This article is promoting brain damage to the young people of Central Australia.
It is called boxing.
The prime objective, the holy grail of the activity (I refuse to call it sport) is the KO!
The Knock Out!
Which is a concussion.
Which is a brain injury.
Permanent.
Irreversible.
All the contact sports, the Rugby codes, the AFL and others have recognised the blunt truth. And have introduced changes to try to prevent it. Concussion is permanent brain injury.
Repeated trauma without concussion, such as being punched in the head, also causes brain injury. Former players all over the world have come forward, and reported the dire consequences.
In the USA court proceedings have commenced (of course) by damaged American Football players, despite wearing helmets.
And yet we continue to have this activity. Young people attempting to brain damage their opponents.
I don’t get it!
And that is just the physical damage.
The other part of it is teaching young people that something can be “won” by punching someone else in the face.
Parents, medical professionals, sane people everywhere, it is time to ban this barbarism.
And you, editor, should think twice before promoting it.
What a shame Charlie has this negative view.
Boxing has brought many wayward kids to the straight and narrow. It promotes discipline, self respect and a healthy lifestyle.
I have been at every event since its inception and it is an extremely well run professional event.
All precaution are in place including judges who stop things going too far and err on the side of caution to protect the competitors.
Black and white support this and sit side by side at the event. It is an event that does bring the community together, and you will hear far less aggression or foul language from the crowd than other weekend sports.
It’s all encouragement, and respect. The weights and abilities of the fighters are carefully considered ensuring the matchups are even, and of course no coach will let their fighter get badly hurt.
Fair enough Charlie, you can have your opinion, but this is not the barbarism that you describe, this is hard work, fitness and dedication in an arena that is the most basic test of human endurance, will and skill and done in a way that impresses me every time I see how far the local organisers go to ensure the wellbeing and credibility of this amazing event.
@ Charlie Carter and @ Ray Rowe: Boxing, the manly art of self defence, is primarily about self discipline.
One of the hardest things to handle is when you get hit on the nose.
All your senses scream to retaliate and hit back blindly in a rage. That’s if you can recover to hit back.
Great boxing coaches like Johnny Lewis teach self control, respect, how to protect yourself, physical and mental fitness combined.
As for brain damage, holding a mobile phone to your ear is a rapidly growing cause of brain cancer, according to many experts.
Girls, ladies: It’s not all about fighting. Boxing offers the ultimate workout that helps you delivering mental, emotional and physical benefits, because it helps you to sharpen your defence skills and confidence that helps you both inside and outside the ring.
Bonus 1: According to health resource website NutriStrategy, a 155-pound person will burn between 200 and 500 calories per hour of weight lifting, depending on how vigorous he makes his workouts.
A session of boxing training, assuming equal parts of the various activities involved, will burn about 500 to 600. By this standard, boxing training is better from a fat loss standpoint than training with weights.
2 (my favourite): Boxing has some unique mental health advantages of its own. Let’s be honest: at one point or another, we’ve all wanted to put our fist through a wall out of anger, frustration, or stress.
Well, a punching bag and a pair of gloves is a much better and safer method.
The act of hitting a punching bag helps to reduce anger and let out frustration in a healthy way.
It can also act as a symbolic form or stress relief when you imagine the punching bag as that source of stress.
@ Charlie Carter: Charlie, unsure if the editor is promoting the event or reporting on it.
With regards to brain injury, IMHO there are enough people around now with deficiencies in the grey matter area, we don’t need more.
@ Ray Rowe: Ray, in the days when people knew what respect was, then boxing enhanced the respect. But these days a lot of people would not know what respect was if it bit them on the arse, so the boxing is just a way to learn how to beat up innocent people.
I’d prefer contact Karate tournaments.
Thank you Evelyn, John and Surprised, although Surprised, I think you fail to see the discipline bf respect that is possessed by the boxers who train under Jason Lord, Mark Nixon, Donny Fuomoto and others.
The kids they train are certainly put on the right track, these coaches are tough in those kids, who are not the same ones that roam with no purpose. Come to the event, it is very well run.
@ Evelyne Roullet. Punching a bag is fine by me.
@ Ray Rowe. You don’t address either of my points.
1. Boxing causes brain trauma.
2. It teaches that punching someone in the face “wins” something.
@ John Bell
“As for brain damage, holding a mobile phone to your ear is a rapidly growing cause of brain cancer, according to many experts.”
In a word (or three) John, conspiracy theory bullshit.
Right up there with “5G causes COVID 19”.
Every reputable controlled trial refutes it.
I applaud well run events that promote multicultural harmony, but why not tennis, or table tennis?
Equally good for fitness and self discipline.
But it doesn’t satisfy that primal urge, eh?
@ Charlie Carter. Fair enough. We agree to disagree.
I must admit I find it surprising that you dismiss the mobile phone danger. I have spoken to doctors. Who rate it a real risk.
The issue of head trauma in sport is subject to never ending debate. Just as competitive cycling, the various codes of football and a host of other human social activities pose varying degrees of head trauma likelihood.
Then there is the truly animalistic “sport” of UFC. Cage fighting etc. Good luck to any government that seeks to impose a ban on any of these sports.
People have free will and it is age old human nature to take up a challenge. No matter what it is. Ban it and the sport will go underground, without the controls that now exist.
No Charlie, it does not. Cheers.
@ John Bell: “I must admit I find it surprising that you dismiss the mobile phone danger. I have spoken to doctors. Who rate it a real risk.”
Anecdote is not evidence. That’s why we do controlled trials.
@ Charlie Carter. The discussion on whether or not exposure to mobile phone heat radiation over a prolonged period can cause cancer has been around for some time and is in the same general ballpark as causes for Parkinson’s Disease such as in the well water of a village in Italy where most villagers contracted it.
Similarly, the use of crop sprays in farming communities and high incidence [of disease]. An old running mate of many years developed Parko’s in 2001. He grew up around Orange NSW. He firmly believes a combination of sprays and the Mortein his mum sprayed around the house incessantly may be a cause. Just as many people believe Mahomed Ali got Parko’s through boxing.
So I will sign off on the issue of mobile phone causes for head trauma on a lighter note, if that’s possible.
As I walked through the newly bustling CBD of downtown Melbourne yesterday, the crowded footpaths and public transport were full of people walking towards me past me, alongside me, crossing intersections, going about business.
The vast majority had their eyes down as they walked and hurried, firmly glued to mobile phones or with earphones talking to invisible people, oblivious to those around them.
I would say there is an incredibly increased risk of head trauma about to happen to these mobile phone users in our society, wouldn’t you?
Perhaps they should learn the art of evasion. Ask a good boxing trainer to teach them the skill, perhaps?
Thanks again for the coverage Erwin, it was a great night with a magnificent crowd. There were no knockouts, no brain injuries, but the referee did stop one fight and another team stopped their fighters’ bout midway through. A very respectful crowd of all colours and creeds sitting together. No abuse, no cries of bloodlust and no swearing that I heard. The competitors all return to their strict training regimens and healthy lifestyle. A great night had by all.