This story is part of a larger effort to learn what really works by studying the use of martial arts and combat sports outside the arena, rather than in the cage or ring. If you liked it, check out more articles from mixedmartialarts.com on:
•Stop Bullying
•Martial Arts on The Street
•Informal Fights
When this father learned his own son was bullying kids on the school bus, he employed one of the greatest tools for character development ever devised – the sweet science of boxing. If empathy is underdeveloped, the surest way to communicate what it feels like to be the person one is bullying, is to be bullied, within the confines of combat sports practice. It doesn’t feel good. Just like a small amount of a disease inoculates us against the malady, so too does a small amount of being banged around the ring, a central focus of masculinity worldwide, improve character. This has been fact for generations, although not everyone realizes it.
The scene opens at Jack Rabbit Boxing & Fitness, a busy gym located at 1780 Martin Luther King Jr Avenue, Long Beach, California. There is a group doing a Boxercize class. Individuals of all skill levels and ages are working on their own, or one-on-one with a trainer. And there is a father and son.
The father secured the services of experienced boxers to do the attitude adjustment. The dad told his son to put on gloves, a groin protector, and headgear and get in there with someone who knows how to hit back.
The skilled athlete enters the ring, and pounds his own face, doubtless to further emphasize to the soon-to-be-former bully what was coming, and to instill the sometimes useful lesson of fear.
What Happened
Immediately upon the round beginning, it’s clear the bully had size enough to beat up little kids after school, but no skills. The bully shows all the signs of the rawest beginner:
•Arm punches awkwardly, naked (without a setup);
•Blocks with both hands at once;
•Leans his head straight away from incoming punches:
•Turns his back; and, perhaps above all,
•Has no endurance or balance.
The experienced boxer naturally held back, only once landing a punch of any consequence, and that was to the body. At one point the bully falls, but it was after a tap to the head; the fall was due to a lack of balance. The second time the bully falls, it was from a takedown (yes, boxers know how to drop someone without striking). Overall, the boxer only gave the young man the work he so needed and deserved, no more, no less.
A good part of the lesson imparted by both the fighter and the father is verbal and emotional, rather than physical. The father can be seen recording the round with a mobile device and challenging the doubtless now-former bully.
Hit back, tough guy!” he shouts at about the 1:30 mark. “Hit back, tough guy! Come on.
In the second half of the video, the pro has been replaced with someone far closer in age to the bully, and smaller. However, the young boxer still possesses skills sufficient to impart valuable lessons. And the younger boxer does not hold back nearly as much.
The Aftermath
At the end of the video, the father carefully, even gently, leads his son out of the ring. The young man’s headgear is removed, revealing an exhausted face, bleeding from the nose and mouth. But far more importantly, he is a wiser and better person for the experience.
Kids who get beaten arbitrarily often become bullies. But kids who learn via combat sports what it feels like to be bullied characteristically become better people for the experience.
For example at the 3:40 mark, three very young boxers watch on with interest. One of the three, seen wearing a Nike shirt, is Ashton Sylve. “H2O” turned pro at 16, and today is 19 years old, and 8-0 as a lightweight pro, with 8 KOs. He’s signed to Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions, and is tabbed to be a future world champion. And who is this young man of character’s trainer? His father, Ivan Sylve.
