China’s sports industry currently relies heavily on manufacturing sports equipment and sportswear. (Photo : Getty Images)
Almost 50 boxing matches have been held in a pub in China's Sichuan Province since it opened in November, the Global Times reported. Its 10-square-meter cage is a weekend sanctuary for lawyers, students and cab drivers, who are itching to blow off some steam and fight each other.
Bar organizers host two to three matches from Friday to Saturday and charge 120 yuan ($18) for tickets. Although governed by either boxing or mixed martial arts rules, fights are significantly less stringent than professionally regulated matches.
For Yang Yiguo, a semi-professional boxer and one of the bar's investors, fights that do not result in bloodshed are less exciting.
A common tactic used by fighters is the use of other limbs such as elbows and legs. This usually results in a bloody fight, leaving one party severely injured. Often times, referees and bar staff would mediate to reduce the tension.
Little can be done to stop incidents like this as fighters and spectators all clamor for matches to be interesting and exciting.
As if to fulfill their requests, some fighters falsely list themselves as "students" or "freelance workers" when in fact, they are either professional boxers or semi-professionals. However, an observant spectator would notice the speed and force of an amateur's strikes and quickly discern the experienced fighter from the inexperienced one.
"We don't think it is dangerous. It looks interesting and he just wants to try it," said a fighter's wife, who goes to see her husband fight every week.
There is also an incentive in matches: the chance to win 57,800 yuan in the bar's organized tournament comprised of four stages.
For others, fighting provides them a way to relieve stress and have a good time.
Authorities are having difficulty reining the business since there are no specific laws on the issue, according to a commentary on West China City Daily. Officials have expressed concern that underground matches will eventually lead to the thriving of illegal activities.
