PAL drops its
boxing program

A spokesman cites "the violence of the sport"
as a reason for cutting it after 57 years

The Police Activities League dropped its boxing program last Saturday, citing safety and manpower concerns, a spokesman confirmed yesterday.

"It is the image of boxing, the violence of the sport," police spokesman Capt. Frank Fujii said. "That is the only reason. It was not an easy decision to make, but the violence is not something the police want to be associated with any longer."

The PAL boxing program began in 1948, when it served approximately 260 boxers. It had 174 registered participants when it was cut, but it provided events once a month -- free of charge -- for boxers ages 7-17 whose skill level would not allow them to compete for spots on the state's Golden Gloves and USA Boxing teams. PAL currently sponsors 14 sports, including flag football, kung fu and judo.

"Without the PAL, there is no way in heck I could have survived since 1965," Waianae coach Fred Pereira said. "What am I going to do now, what do I tell the kids? Do I tell them the police want them back on the streets?"

The decision comes at a tough time for amateur boxing in Hawaii. The state commission shut down the sport for a week in May for administrative reasons and have given the state's USA Boxing representative a deadline to turn over a financial report or not be permitted to promote events.

For all of the problems dogging amateur boxing, coaches believe that the sport is strong enough to survive.

"It isn't going to damper the kids' enthusiasm for the sport," Palolo coach Joel Kim said. "It will only rob them of a forum to showcase their skills."

Local coaches remain aggressive about finding a place for their athletes to compete.

Four clubs recently banded together to hold organized sparring events in an attempt to replace the need for PAL, and they hope to expand it to the entire island. They want to work out the kinks before they do so, though, to ensure they are not breaking any USA Boxing rules. But they will miss being associated with the police.

"The kids and the parents really took a lot of pride in being a part of PAL," Pereira said. "I get more of a chance to work with the kids and help them because I am a PAL member. Without PAL, boxing is pau."

Fujii said that there has not been an injury in the ring during a PAL contest, but the potential of such an injury was too much risk for the organization to take any longer. He also cited manpower concerns, as the two sergeants in charge of PAL are temporarily unavailable.

"We have been phasing it out for some time now," Fujii said. "There have always been studies showing the potential for brain injury. And nobody really knows what the long-term effects are."

Coaches say that they will be able to move on without PAL, they just wish they were given a straight answer.

"Show us the study," Pearlside coach Eiichi Jumawan said. "All of the studies USA Boxing has done have shown the sport below tennis as far as injury is concerned. Honolulu PAL rules are safer than anywhere else, I just wish they would give us the real reason they dropped it instead of hiding behind safety."

Trainer Teddy Limoz believes PAL made things safer for everyone.

"I'm disappointed in it," Limoz said. "All of those younger kids, what else are they going to do? I'm afraid they will go over to the mixed martial arts and they will find out that it is expensive and train on the streets. I believe you are going to see a lot more kids getting hurt because of it. It is just so unfortunate."