NP Rank:
Fight Club: Brawling for Safer Streets
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.
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Jordan Yerman
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada





Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (1)
at 06:02 on May 15th, 2008
jordan, I like this story. It's good stuff.