As featherweight boxer Paul Ingle continues to fight for his life, reporter Adrian Worsley visited the City of Durham Amateur Boxing Club to ask budding fighters if they were reassessing the risks

FISTS clenched, cheeks blowing in timed breaths, the young men at the boxing club cut impressive figures, shadow boxing in pairs.

These youngsters - light on their feet and eager to please their coach - were clearly not intent on inflicting maximum cranial damage on their opponents.

They were simply learning a new sport that happens to require one person to hit another squarely in the face.

With all the talk of possibly banning the so-called noble sport of boxing or at least introducing head guards at all levels, what did the next generation of Paul Ingles think?

"It's like any other sport - you have to be prepared to take a risk," said 18-year-old Scott Patterson.

"Even at this level, fighters have to have a medical before they get in the ring. Admittedly, a ringside doctor wouldn't be able to spot brain damage, but that kind of injury can happen to people in most sports and they don't always have medical.

"Besides, if we start fighting with headguards on, people won't be that interested in watching us. People like to see knock-outs and two people really hitting each other. They don't want to see people tapping each other for 12 rounds."

While Paul Ingle's future lies in the hands of neurosurgeons trying to repair the damage inflicted on him by championship challenger Mbulelo Botile, amateur boxers up and down the country fight on.

Stephen Splevins, 17, has only been boxing for a couple of months. He uses it to increase his fitness.

He said: "If boxing was banned or driven underground we would end up getting into trouble on street corners.

"The risks are more than worth it because it also keeps you very fit and sharpens the mind - where else could you get that?"

An older head, 31-year-old Nick Hands, sounded a note of caution among the youthful abandon.

He said: "I do worry when I see what happened to Paul Ingle. People in boxing tend to look at it like rock climbers. When you get to the top you get a great sense of achievement, then think you might have been seriously hurt getting there. Boxing's the same - you'd be daft to discount the risk."

l A telephone poll of Northern Echo readers yestereday showed divided opinion, with a narrow margin voting against a ban on boxing.