Photo courtesy of LA Boxing.
In an anti-bullying video produced by LA Boxing, professional MMA Fighters and Boxers including WEC Lightweight Rob McCullough, former UFC Champions Tito Ortiz and Quinton Jackson, current UFC Fighter Michael Bisping and five-time Welterweight Boxing Champion Zab Judah, explained the reasons why they fought competitively — for example, they have fought for fame, money or to prove they’re one of the best fighters in the world. However, the professional fighters vividly expressed that they didn’t fight for bullying. “I fight for many reasons, but I don’t fight to be a bully,” said Rob McCullough in the video.
The video is part of LA Boxing’s anti-bullying campaign, targeted at reaching the hundreds of thousands of kids adversely affected by bulling each year. According to LA Boxing, every minute a child is bullied. The slogan of the campaign is “100 percent competitor, zero percent bully.”
At each of the nearly 75 LA Boxing franchise locations in the U.S., local anti-bullying assemblies will be held for students in local school districts. According to LA Boxing, the assemblies will feature LA Boxing trainers and possible select professional fighters, who will speak to kids about bullying and provide them with effective ways to communicate about the issue and express their feelings without violence.
The featured video will be shown at the assemblies. As part of the campaign, LA Boxing has sponsored the website BullyFight.com, which works as a platform for videos about anti-bullying awareness and examples of how kids have been negatively affected by bullying. Students can submit their own videos about their bullying experiences to the site.
To further fight bullying, LA Boxing has extended the opportunity for kids to take a free class — according to LA Boxing, this is an effort to spread the message that fighting should only happen within the confines of regulated combat sports. “We as a company are at the absolute forefront of anti-bullying,” said Philip Jacobs, the director of franchise development for LA Boxing. “We have found that bullying happens for different reasons, and kids can work that out in our gym.”
LA Boxing opened its first franchise location in 2005, and since then has expanded to 75 franchises currently opened in the U.S., with 60 or more locations in the works and plans to expand overseas. “All over the world fitness is here to stay,” said Jacobs. “The words ‘LA Boxing’ have panache overseas — we’re going to leverage that.”
According to Jacobs, the franchise capitalized on the effectiveness of boxing, which can burn 800 to 1,000 calories per hour. Jacobs credits LA Boxing’s fast-growing success to the franchises “Three E’s” — efficiency, effectiveness and engagement. “We believe that a boxer is the most well-conducted athlete in the world, from the workout they do and their dedication,” said Jacobs. “We put that all together in a clean and welcoming environment.”
The franchise hopes the campaign will get kids and their parents into the club, boosting family memberships, said Jacobs. In addition, the campaign will work to boost brand recognition. “The number one purpose of the campaign is goodwill,” said Jacobs. “The second is branding in the local community and third, the campaign should work as a profit center for the owners. When the kids ask to go into the club, we hope their parents will follow.”
To find out more about LA Boxing and its anti-bullying campaign, visit www.bullyfight.com or laboxing.com.
By Rachel Zabonick
Great! Awesome! people, children – learn by example, in the fitness industry we sit in a place of very high influence. Love this!