By QUENTIN CLARKSON
HAMILTON - A sports fitness doctor is competing in a kick-boxing contest tomorrow, despite complaints by critics and medical authorities of injuries caused by boxing.
Dr Tom Palfi, aged 43, will compete in his first fight against another novice at the annual Fists of Fury kick-boxing bout held at the Founders Theatre in Hamilton.
He is fighting despite New Zealand Medical Association claims that boxing is a dangerous sport that can lead to brain damage.
The Hamilton GP said boxing was as safe and probably safer than contact sports such as rugby and rugby league.
Competitive kick-boxing had exactly the same effect on competitors' bodies as boxing, although kick-boxers received fewer blows to the head because they were allowed to kick and knee the lower body of their opponents.
Dr Palfi said players in the rugby codes took "massive hits" in a game.
Dr Pippa MacKay, chairwoman of the New Zealand Medical Association, said she did not know much about kick-boxing. "But anything where the intention is to hit and hurt someone, we can't condone," she said.
"I don't think that members of the medical profession would endorse an activity that involves hitting someone."
Dr MacKay said the association had previously stated that it "absolutely disapproved" of boxing because the purpose of it was to hurt your opponent.
Ian Powell, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, said there was "no accounting for taste" when asked if competitive kick-boxing should be banned.
Dr Palfi's coach, Terry Hill, said kick-boxing was safer than boxing because kick-boxers absorbed fewer blows to the head.
The 1989-90 world middleweight kick-boxing champion could not recall any deaths in the sport.
Dr Palfi said that although he had worked in sports medicine for the past 20 years, he had worked in the fitness industry for only the past two. He started kick-boxing six months ago.
As a fitness trainer, Dr Palfi was always encouraging his clients to take themselves out of their comfort zones.
The super-fit doctor now has the same heart and lung condition as a nationally rated athlete. He achieved this by training six days a week for six months.
Boxing doctor unrepentant
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