Discrimination occurs in many sports,not just in football. Despite great progress in the UK, especially in fighting racism, there is still discrimination that must be fought whenever it surfaces. Nevertheless, even though great strides have been made there is no resource where people can easily and quickly access in depth information on discrimination in sport in Britain.We intend to fill that void.
Fri
20
Feb
2009
Gypsy king
Written by Derek Miller
Is an eighteen year old British boxer, named Billy Joe Saunders. He's says he's hoping to emulate the feats of Amir Khan, who boxed very well in Athens four years ago. And judging by his overwhelming points victory, 14-3, against Turkey's Adem Kilicci, who managed bronze at the world championships only last year, he could well be on his way.
This young pugilist has no ordinary tale of the tape. He may well be the first Romany Gypsy to qualify for the Olympics in his chosen category. He's no stranger to being an outsider. He and his family live on a caravan site on the outskirts of London, and his rich lineage testifies that he has boxing in his blood. Tom, his father boxed, so does his brother, and so too do his cousins, grandad, and great grandfather. The difference is, they all boxed with their gloves off. This prospect, was born into the bare knuckle variety of the sometimes not so noble art.
An abomination to most people, though not that much different to the modern day craze of cage fighting, or it's sanitised tag of mixed martial arts, bare knuckle fighting is a time served gypsy tradition. For the record, that 'tradition' involves, no gloves, of course, but also no timed rounds, no three knock down rule, and no protection (gum or groin). You get thirty seconds to scoop yourself up from the dirt if you get knocked down, or you lose. Oh and and exhaustion means instant disqualification, as maybe they don't want things to get nasty after all.
'Hopefully Billy will succeed at the legitimate level of the game', says his father. 'The bare knuckle fighting art among gypsies is not about money, not in England, it's about honour, and if Billy does well, maybe people will learn more about our culture', adds his father.
Trainer Danny Hoy, claims 'he's something special'. And none of these hopes are wasted on Billy himself. The young fighter admits boxing has kept him off the streets, out of trouble, away from cigarettes and drink. 'It's all I want to do know,' he says. I'm also told his first ambition was to make the 2012 London Games, so technically he is way ahead of his goal, and if he does manage to fight his way to a Gold medal or even onto the podium, which is a big task, he may well miss out on his dream, and turn pro
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Is an eighteen year old British boxer, named Billy Joe Saunders. He's says he's hoping to emulate the feats of Amir Khan, who boxed very well in Athens four years ago. And judging by his overwhelming points victory, 14-3, against Turkey's Adem Kilicci, who managed bronze at the world championships only last year, he could well be on his way.
