Alfa's last message<\/p>\n
Muhammad Alfaridzhi, or Alfa as he was better known, died on
\nMonday night in an East Jakarta hospital's intensive care unit
\nafter a brain operation failed to save his life. A professional
\nboxer, Alfa died after he was knocked out in the eighth round of
\na 10-round boxing match against Kongtawat Ora of Thailand last
\nFriday. The 23 year old never regained consciousness.<\/p>\n
Alfa is not the first professional Indonesian boxer to die in
\nthe ring recently. Three others, Akbar Maulana, Dipo Saloko and
\nJohn Namtilu, went before him. Two others survived but only after
\nundergoing brain surgery.<\/p>\n
Unlike those who died before him, though, Alfa's death caused
\na stir not only in boxing circles in this country, but among the
\npublic at large as well -- not to mention the grief which Alfa's
\ndeath caused his close friends and family.<\/p>\n
How is this difference in the public's reaction to be
\nexplained? Boxing, like the gladiator matches of ancient Rome, is
\nnot only a sport -- if indeed pitching two people against each
\nother to see who can best and quickest beat the other unconscious
\ncan still be called a sport -- it is also, and is perhaps first
\nand foremost, show business. And Alfa had all the makings of a
\npopular boxing star. He was personally well-liked, was fairly
\ngood-looking and had an aggressive boxing style with a string of
\nknock-out victories to his credit.<\/p>\n
It seems, though, that the day of Alfa's death was a bad day
\nfor the local boxing scene. There have been claims that Alfa had
\nbeen out of form for some time and should not have been allowed
\nto fight. "I saw from Alfaridzhi's last three fights that his
\nphysical fitness had been decreasing," said Mahadi Sinambela, a
\nformer state minister of youth affairs and sports. "He probably
\nsuffered from cumulative injuries in his final bout. Obviously,
\nhe couldn't take the hard punches."<\/p>\n
Ferdiansyah, a Golkar Party legislator and member of House of
\nRepresentatives Commission VI for religious affairs and human
\nresources, expressed more or less the same opinion.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Boxing Commission (KTI) must make a medical
\ncheck of a boxer's condition before he steps into the ring and
\nafter a bout. Furthermore, in the case of someone who has been
\nknocked out, a certain period, usually four to six months, must
\nelapse before the boxer is allowed back into the ring.<\/p>\n
Could it be that in Alfa's case, and perhaps in others as
\nwell, these factors were ignored because the show must go on?
\nBoth the Indonesian Boxing Promoters Association (Gaprotin) and
\nthe Indonesian Boxing Commission plan to meet this weekend to
\ninvestigate this latest boxing tragedy. Tapes will be studied to
\ndetect anything that could have gone wrong.<\/p>\n
"We're not going to blame any particular party, but rather we
\nwant to ensure that it won't happen again," Gaprotin chairman
\nTourino Tidar said. But how does Gaprotin expect to do that?<\/p>\n
For Alfa's family, the answer is clear. They are withdrawing
\nfrom professional boxing and closing down the Anak Bandung boxing
\nclub "until KTI improves its rules".<\/p>\n
Other people, though, have different answers. "I won't stop
\npromoting (boxing) due to this accident," said boxing promoter
\nDaniel Bahari. "Instead, it (this accident) will attract
\nattention because Alfa was a hero to the people of Bandung. I
\nwill miss him. People may be disappointed with his death, but I
\nam more disappointed because I was the promoter. I couldn't stop
\nthe fight."<\/p>\n
So there is some hope that, at the very least, Alfa's death
\nwill lead to substantial improvements in the way boxing is
\nmanaged and organized. If safety rules can be properly put in
\nplace and supervised in other sports -- automotive sports is a
\ngood example -- why not in boxing?<\/p>\n
But that is only the minimum that Indonesia's sports officials
\ncan do. Elsewhere, in a growing number of countries in the
\ncivilized world boxing is banned. Perhaps, with the growing
\nappreciation of the principle of human dignity, Indonesians too
\nwill eventually come to regard boxing in the same manner -- not
\nas a sport but as a degrading contest between two people, staged
\nfor the benefit of a paying public.<\/p>",
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