In Rio's mean streets, boxing offers hopes over drug trafficking

By Fabio Teixeira and Aline Massuca

At a square in a Rio de Janeiro suburb plagued by drug trafficking and high rates of violent crimes, children and young adults get together every Tuesday night to fight, but not in the way one might think.

Donning gloves and following rules, they spar in street boxing matches from around 10 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. in a weekly event that has been attracting a growing audience in Belford Roxo, a poor city in Rio state.

It started around four months ago at local square Praca 1, and has since developed into a project called "Ultimate Fighting Praca 1," or UFP1, said one of its creators, Michel dos Reis.

While it did not start with social aims, the project has become a way for young people to learn more about boxing, maybe drawing them away from the ever-present lure of working for drug traffickers, said Reis.

"This is helping them to not have an empty mind," said Reis, whose brother died after getting involved with drug trafficking gangs.

Nervous at his first match just a few months ago, 15-year-old Gabriel Gomes now holds one of UFP1's championship belts and looks to a career in boxing as a possibility.

"I'm thinking of changing my life," said Gomes, who started training for competitions at a local gym.

When the matches started, there was a lot of prejudice, said Reis. But he added that what they are doing is nothing different from what happens in other countries where martial arts are practiced in public places.

"We are now managing to make people understand that this is good for our young people."