WELL we're in for another big fight weekend in Honolulu. Why doesn’t the state
X out extreme fights?No, I'm not talking about that tired old conventional sport called boxing.
No, no, no. This is much better.
Two days after Halloween, a guy in a ti leaf skirt is going to try to kick another guy named "Thunderfoot" into submission at the Blaisdell Center.
This will follow by three weeks another big fight weekend when the much bloodier X-Treme Fighting Tournament was in town.
I guess it's not fair to compare the promotional genius of Dennis Alexio to the moronic barbarians in the no-holds-barred game.
Of course, for a guy who once went by the handle, "Portuguese Man O War," he does look kind of ludicrous in a ti leaf skirt. (Yes, folks, I know about the ceremony that made him an adopted Hawaiian. But it still looks strange.)
At least Alexio's sport doesn't allow him to gouge, fish-hook or bite to win the contests he stages.
Throughout a career in which he claims to have a 63-1 record, he has kicked the stuffings out of guys with nicknames like Mad Dog, Hurricane and Awesome.
Of course, it's not really possible to find out how legit these guys are beyond what the Alexio camp wants you to know. You see, pro kickboxing doesn't have any of the structure or regulation of pro boxing.
ALEXIO'S clever hype, which cannot be confused with promoting international relations, has included "Nuclear War" for a fight with a European opponent and "World War III" for a more recent bout with a Japanese fighter.
Gee, what a neat theme for a U.S. vs. Japan competition in these days of economic tension. Don't you think?
Alexio, who is going ahead with the fight against Thunderfoot despite the death on Oct. 8 of his father, Reese Dale Dick, a highly respected teacher and high school baseball coach in Vacaville, Calif., will probably pack 'em in Saturday.
He's the town's hero. The kids look up to him more than they do any local boxer.
I'm not sure that kickboxing should supplant the rigorous disciplines of boxing as the sport of choice among youngsters who want to fight.
But I'm absolutely certain that I don't want to see X-Treme fighting or Ultimate fighting - the milder version with a few more rules - replace boxing in this town.
When 13-year-old boys can get into these things and cheer for adult men in arenas who are doing to opponents what some mindless thugs now in jail did to a soldier (now brain-damaged) on the floor of a North Shore convenience store a few years ago, I think we'd better rethink our human values.
I have to believe the mentality level that Ultimate and X-Treme fighting attracts rates with the kind that finds cock fighting and dog fighting a lot of fun.
California has banned Ultimate fighting and U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has campaigned for a national ban on primitive brawling.
Wonder what's stopping the Hawaii Legislature from taking up the issue. Maybe we need a corpse.
There's a bright young high school honors student in our midst with hands of lightning.
He's a pure athlete and he deserves a constituency as he grows into manhood.
Two-time Junior Olympic gold medalist Brian Viloria of Waipahu is already being enticed by the Olympic Education Center at Northern Michigan University and an Olympic berth is a real possibility for the year 2000.
But it's hard to imagine how other kids can be encouraged to emulate the role model Viloria offers if Honolulu becomes "bloodsport central."