16 year old dies in "Underground Fight Club"

Cryozombie

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A 16-year old boy collapsed and died after boxing in what authorities called an underground "fight club." Jefferson Pitner died Sunday after fighting at least three rounds in a Palm Desert park, where he had gathered with eleven other boys, authorities said. Pitner, who lived in Indio, died of head injuries at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, said Sgt. Earl Quinata, spokesman for the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

FATAL FIGHT BEING CALLED A HOMICIDE

http://www.ringtalk.com/index.php?action=fullnews&showcomments=1&id=876

This is why I believe fighting is NOT A SPORT...
 

SFC JeffJ

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If it was voluntary, I'd say manslaughter instead of homicide, but still a tragedy.

Maybe incidents like this will smarten some of these kids up.

I really feel sorry for the boys family.

Jeff
 

Carol

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If it was voluntary, I'd say manslaughter instead of homicide, but still a tragedy.

Maybe incidents like this will smarten some of these kids up.

I really feel sorry for the boys family.

Jeff


A homicide means a person was killed by another person. A homicide can be a murder case or it could be a manslaughter case.

Very very sad.
 

MA-Caver

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If it was voluntary, I'd say manslaughter instead of homicide, but still a tragedy.

Maybe incidents like this will smarten some of these kids up.

Jeff
Maybe, but most likely maybe not. Don't mean to be cynical but ... <shrugs> kids are kids... right?

Prayers to the family from over this corner of the world.
 

SFC JeffJ

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You are absolutely correct. I was reading murder instead of homicide for some reason.

Jeff
 

MBuzzy

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This is a real tragedy - but the greatest tragedy is that I believe very little will be learned from this. I only hope that some change is brought about in children, parents, or communities....

Too many people are needlessly dying lately.
 

Arizona Angel

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That is very sad. How in the world do we get...don't try this at home...into a teens head?
 

rutherford

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Andrew Green

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Gloving up and beating on each other was an occasional part of my childhood.

And as much of a tragedy as it is, this is by far not the first time someone has been accidentally killed in what IMO amounts to a pick up game. Had he been accidentally hit in the head with a baseball while pitching a game with his friends, or tackled and took a bad fall while playing rugby or football, or been hit by a car while bike riding would the reactions to what he was doing have been so negative?

Boxing is a sport, and it is not the only contact one, nor is it the only one with risks involved in it.

It doesn't say what they where doing exactly, it could have been something stupid, it also could have been quite safe under normal circumstances. All activitey carries risk.

Joinging a club would definatly have been a safer and better option, but is there any male here that can honestly say that they NEVER engaged in contact sports outside of "official" teams? Cause I fail that test pretty bad...
 

born_fighting

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I feel sorry for the family. But if your going to fight expect the worst, training accsedents happen every day, from broken necks to broken arms, sadly sometimes when your exhasted the fun dies off and severe injurys occre.. but Realy Hommoside? he volentered to fight, was he stomped on the ground? who's more responsible the fighter or reff, was there a ref? some one for shure is responsibel and should be penalized but not murder, mabie neglect casuing death.... thats my feelings on that. and again it is a tragic wast of life. But we all make choices and know there posibility's and 16 is 5 years smart enugh to have known and understood the risk's involved.
 

Andrew Green

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Homicide is nuts, and again my response would be "Had this occured in any other contact sport would it even be a issue? Had it not been a punch but a baseball would homicide be getting considered by anyone?"

Accidents happen, it sucks, but it happens in every activity.
 

zDom

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"Underground fight club" seems to indicate a lack of qualified supervision or expertise among the participants.
 

MJS

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Homicide is nuts, and again my response would be "Had this occured in any other contact sport would it even be a issue? Had it not been a punch but a baseball would homicide be getting considered by anyone?"

Accidents happen, it sucks, but it happens in every activity.

Sure, there are risks in every sport. The difference here though, is that these underground events, are not legal. The contestants and ref most likely are not anywhere near qualified as the fighters and refs in the UFC, Pride, etc. A baseball to the head most likely is going to be an accident, whereas a punch in these events is going to be intentional and with bad intent.

Mike
 

Andrew Green

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"Underground fight club" seems to indicate a lack of qualified supervision or expertise among the participants.

Given the way the media likes to sensationalize things and use their trigger words like "underground" and "fight club" it's hard to say.
 

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