Posted on: Friday, May 6, 2005
Man vs. boy martial arts fight sparks HPD investigation
By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer
Police are investigating whether a Police Activities League boxing coach and another man pitted a 14-year-old boy against a 32-year-old fighter in a mixed martial arts match last month at the Dole Cannery ballroom.
The coach and the man, who is also a coach, are facing a charge of endangering the welfare of a minor in the second degree, a misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine, police said.
State laws do not address the age of participants in a mixed martial arts contest.
"Although it was not a PAL-sanctioned event, we take any allegations of this nature very seriously," said HPD Capt. Frank Fujii. "Our PAL volunteers are held to the highest standards and we will be looking into the allegations. If warranted, appropriate sanctions will be levied."
Police said Duke Artuyo of Waimanalo is one of the men named in a complaint filed by the boy's father.
Artuyo told The Advertiser he saw the boy at the March 11 match, but had no idea the teen-ager intended to enter the ring.
He said as an experienced boxing coach, he assumed that the promoters checked the boy's birth certificate and wouldn't let him fight. The fight's promoter, J.D. Penn, did not return several calls and an e-mail requesting comment.
"I knew he was 14 from way before but I didn't know he was going to be involved; they told me he wasn't going to fight. I don't know whose idea it was to let him fight," Artuyo said. "I had nothing to do with putting him in the ring. Zero."
Artuyo said he has not been contacted by police.
The boy, Randolph Kamaiopili Jr., fought in the "Proving Grounds," a qualifying match for the "Rumble on the Rock" series of professional mixed martial arts fights, the boy's father said.
The boy was entered on behalf of Team Yokozuna under the pseudonym "Randy Rider," said his father, Randolph Kamaiopili Sr., and the boy's current youth boxing coach, Blane Yoshida.
Kamaiopili Sr. said his son, who is 5 feet 1 inch and weighs about 130 pounds, was choked, punched and thrown to the ground almost immediately.
"This guy let my son go in there; he's a minor, he could have gotten hurt," Kamaiopili Sr. said.
Police said they are not investigating the 32-year-old who fought the boy because he could not be expected to know the age of his opponent. Investigators are working to establish if the PAL coach, his assistant or the fight's promoters knew that the boy was a minor.
Yoshida, head coach of the East O'ahu Boxing Club, now coaches the boy, who turned 15 on April 12. He said that the boy needs an inhaler for his asthma while he trains. Yoshida, who has known the boy for about a year, said the boy's boxing experience amounts to a single PAL match a few months before the professional match.
Yoshida said the boy initially approached him about entering him in the "Proving Grounds" but Yoshida refused. He said Kamaiopili Jr. lacks experience and is too young.
"They put him in a professional men's eight-man tournament. To me that is sick and that's crazy," Yoshida said. "He could have been killed."
HPD has run the PAL program since 1947 as a way to promote positive activities for O'ahu's youth. More than 300,000 youth have taken part in PAL programs, according to the police Web site.
Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8110.
