ENCOURAGING children to take up boxing could prevent a repeat of last summer's riots, a Bristol MP says.
Charlotte Leslie, right, said hopping into the ring was "as close as you'll get to a silver bullet" for harnessing the pent-up frustration of teenagers.
The Tory MP for Bristol North West said youngsters involved with boxing clubs had not joined last summer's riots even though friends had urged them to take part.
Ms Leslie, who chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on boxing and is president of the Avonmouth National Smelting Boxing Club, made her points at the launch of a new TV documentary at Westminster.
The Channel 4 programme will trace the journeys of three young boxers looking to take part in the Olympics. At the launch event, attended by members of the Avonmouth club and Bristol's Empire boxing club, she urged Home Office Minister Nick Herbert to channel funding into boxing initiatives because they were "already working".
Ms Leslie, who used to box as a teenager, said: "It's quite extraordinary, if you hear these kids talk. Kids with energy need to put it somewhere. A lot of them have pent-up anger and aggression because they're from difficult backgrounds, and would have no other option but to join a gang."
Boxing provided discipline, role models and the drive to succeed, she said, adding: "For a lot of these kids, it's the first time they have been good at something.
"There are hundreds, maybe thousands of cases where boxing has saved young people from a life of crime, drugs and alcohol abuse.
"If you look at the work our boxing clubs do, it's clear that it's as close as you'll get to a silver bullet in tackling the kind of behaviour that leads to kids rioting in our cities."
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