▲Click 'CHINADAILY' above to follow us"With nowhere else to go, he fights". That was the headline two weeks ago, when I wrote about Derek, a 15-year-old orphan from Guangdong province who wants to be a mixed martial arts champion. He lived alone in a rough neighborhood, with barely enough money to buy food. He would fight in underground clubs whenever he could. Recently, he was dangerously knocked out by an older, stronger opponent.Such fights are illegal, I've been told. Derek told me about the gamblers, the raucous crowds, the booze and the bikini-clad girls who prance around and fawn over the fight winners. Yet he views the octagon as a temple. He sees it as his ticket to a better life.In China and elsewhere, there are many at-risk youth like Derek — kids at the margins of society with little to live for. Hopelessness can lead them into criminal gangs, drugs, pro
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