Noble or trouble? 'Fight club' tests Minneapolis parks

"Guns down, hands up."

That's what Minnesota Fight Club founder Jihad Muhammad says before every match. It's what he asks his fighters to say on camera before they touch gloves with their opponents and duke it out in a Minneapolis public park.

A physiology major at the University of Minnesota who hopes to become an emergency room doctor, Muhammad, 21, said he launched the club over the summer as a way to help curb gun violence in the city by giving young people an outlet for aggression that doesn't involve guns.

He sees the bouts he's been staging at Bde Maka Ska and other parks as healthy outlets for aggression. Others, however, see serious problems and potential danger in the public fights, which may also be illegal.

'Just fight it out'

On a recent Saturday night, Muhammad and several fighters gathered in a grassy field near the volleyball courts on the south end of Lake Bde Maka Ska, formerly known as Lake Calhoun.

A pair of men bobbed and weaved, ducking and throwing punches. They wore boxing gloves, but no head gear. Both appeared to be experienced boxers, although neither landed any big blows.

Muhammad officiated, giving the fighters tips and encouragement. After 30 seconds, the match ended. The men stopped, moving quickly from trading punches to trading compliments and notes on each other's fighting styles.

That's the atmosphere Muhammad says he's trying to cultivate with the club.

"You look at your opponent and give him a hug and it's just good," said Muhammad, 21. "It's nothing but good vibes. You don't come out the ring angry. Or aggression or tensed up. If you had any of that, you should have left it in the ring."

On this night, no one appeared to be working out any grudges against rivals. Some of the men brought their significant others and children, and light refreshments. Some nights, said Muhammad, the boxers stay and eat together. Some women fight as well. About 20 people regularly participate in the club, said Muhammad.

"You burn so much energy, you gotta go home and take a nap," said Jermaine Brown, 27, after his bout. "All that anger, that tension. Once you get in there, hit, get hit, at the end of it, it all just went away."

At about 6 feet tall and 240 pounds, Brown has a build similar to former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson. He said he's been boxing since he was a boy and that it's a good source of exercise and stress relief.

Brown said he he's been to several fight club events but doesn't always spar. Sometimes it's hard to find someone his size to fight. On those nights, Brown cheers on the others.

Brown's opponent was a guy he'd never met before that night. Mike Barreto, 22, stands a little over 6 feet tall and is heavyset. The early evening air is thick with humidity and Barreto is sweating profusely.

This is Barreto's first time at a fight club event. He's boxed before, but it's been a while, so he admits he's a little out of shape. As a young man, Barreto joined a boxing gym as way to help him change his behavior.

"I went to four different middle schools in all my three years at middle school due to fights, getting into trouble at school," said Barreto.

After doing some amateur boxing in his teens, Barreto said he dropped out of organized fighting and started hanging out with a rough crowd.

"I fell into the streets and a lot of people started picking up guns. And I got tired of it," said Barreto. "So the things that he's [Muhammad] making — spreading out right now — is what I want to see. Have more people — if they got a problem — just fight it out. Put on some gloves on and box it out."

That's exactly the message Muhammad is trying to spread. And Muhammad said the prevalence of guns can quickly turn shoving matches into shootouts.

"A lot of youth — I'm starting with my younger brother and his age group and the kind of people he hung around — they walk around with guns on their person. You understand what I'm saying?" said Muhammad. "That's how immediate gun violence is in this day and time."

Typically, gun violence spikes during the summer months and as in past years, the overwhelming majority of the 20 homicide victims in the city in 2018 were killed by people with guns.

'If it was my son...'

Some city and state officials have reservations about the group. The Minneapolis Park Board says the Minnesota Fight Club is holding unpermitted events.

"We would ask for the event organizers to apply for a permit so MPRB staff could ensure that the event had appropriate insurance in case of injury, trained referees, signed waivers, etc. Event permits begin at $75 and increase depending on the complexity of the event," park board spokesperson Robin Smothers wrote in an email.

The events violate a park board ordinance that prohibits people from engaging in conduct which "tends to incite an immediate breach of the peace," although fight club events may continue lawfully after park staff review and approve the fight club's permit application, she added.

Muhammad said that while he has not spoken to park board officials before holding events, he has met with supervisors at several different parks and handed them flyers about the club. "Their take was completely positive," he said.

Fight Club participants sign waivers stating they are physically able to participate before they box. Some choose to wear headgear when they fight. Others don't.

The state's Office of Combative Sports can't do anything about that, said Department of Labor and Industry Commissioner Ken Peterson.

The office has authority over professional boxing, mixed martial arts or so-called tough-guy fights. Peterson said members of his office, including legal counsel have spoken to Muhammad and determined that since Minnesota Fight Club doesn't award cash prizes to the fighters, it doesn't fall under the purview of the office.

Peterson said one of the office's main tasks is to protect the safety of professional fighters, so the thought of people fighting without headgear or other safety precautions makes him nervous.

"If it was my son, I'd certainly advise him not to do it, or a neighbor's son or a friend's son ... or myself. I'd advise not to do it," said Peterson. "But people can do what they want to do."

Peterson said the Legislature would have to give the office power to regulate the fight club. He added that he "doesn't want to put them out of business."

Fight club organizer Muhammad said his mother, who is a nurse practitioner, attends nearly every fight, although she wasn't there for the Brown-Barreto match. If she's not available, Muhammad said he calls another medical professional to observe.

Peterson said the Minnesota Fight Club falls into a kind of gray area of regulation. He said USA Boxing, which governs amateur fighting in the country might have some authority but he's not sure.

The head of the state's amateur boxing association directed a call for comment to the national office in Colorado. MPR News has been unable to reach director Mike McAtee.

Heading for St. Paul

Muhammad's efforts to spread his "guns down, hands up" message recently got a big boost.

The Fight Club received $25,000 from a federal Department of Health and Human Services grant that supports a Minneapolis city initiative called ReCAST, short for Resilience in Communities After Stress and Trauma.

The head of the city of Minneapolis' division of Race and Equity, Joy Marsh Stephens, said the Minnesota Fight Club was one of many groups which put their names and mission statements forward as candidates.

Members of the public, not city officials, voted on which program they thought should receive grant money. Stephens said Muhammad's mission to prevent gun violence fits the themes of both the federal and city programs.

"[I'm] so excited about [Muhammad] and his project and this project getting funded," said Stephens. She said that's because many people like Muhammad with ideas on how to help their communities don't have access to the kind of resources they need to accomplish their goals.

"He's a textbook example of the sort of individual who we want to be supporting through this work," she said.

Stephens also said she hopes the park board can work out an arrangement with Muhammad in order to accommodate fight club events, much in the same way the city of Minneapolis worked with 13-year-old Jaequan Faulkner, who was selling hot dogs without a license.

That $25,000 grant will mainly be put toward pushing the club outside the city, said Muhammad.

"We have plans to expand out to St. Paul. I've actually even talked to a few people in Wisconsin — Milwaukee, Wis., about expanding out that way," said Muhammad. "And hopefully into Chicago, Ill., as well. This can be a whole Midwestern thing and if possible, spread a little bit further than that as well."

The next fight club event is scheduled for Sunday. The group's Facebook page now says "All safety equipment will be provided."