Bullies beware! Top boxer vows to give lessons to Quaden who was picked on because he’s a dwarf – after video of the nine-year-old saying he wanted to kill himself broke hearts around the world
- Former boxing world champ Billy ‘The Kid’ Dib has spoken to Quaden Bayles
- Mr Dib said on Friday that he had offered to give the youngster boxing lessons
- Harrowing footage of Quaden, 9, after he was tormented by bullies went viral
- The video has prompted an outpouring of support from around the world
Australian boxer Billy ‘The Kid’ Dib has offered to help a boy who was bullied over his dwarfism by giving him one on one boxing lessons.
The former featherweight world champion made the touching promise after seeing the heart-wrenching footage of Quaden Bayles crying and saying he wanted to die.
The nine-year-old, who has achondroplasia – the most common type of dwarfism, was filmed by his mother after being tormented by schoolkids.
The video has gone viral and prompted an outpouring of support from around the world for the youngster.
Mr Dib posted to Twitter on Friday afternoon that he had just spoken to Quaden and offered to coach him at boxing.
Australian boxer Billy ‘The Kid’ Dib has offered to help a boy who was bullied over his dwarfism by giving him one on one boxing lessons
‘Just got off a FaceTime chat with young Quaden he is In really great spirits today, I also spoke with his mother Yarraka about offering young Quaden some one on one boxing sessions and she loves the idea,’ Mr Dib shared wrote.
‘Looking forward to teaching this little champ some deadly punches.’
Mr Dib offered to coach Quaden Bayles at boxing when the pair spoke on Friday
His offer of support follows other sports stars such as NRL player Latrell Mitchell coming forward to speak up for Quaden.
He has also been offered lead the NRL Indigenous All-Stars team out onto the pitch on Saturday for their game on the Gold Coast.
‘We know you’re going through a hard time right now. But the boys are here and we’ve got your back. We’re here to support you bud,’ Mitchell said in a video posted by the NRL on Twitter.
Hollywood star Hugh Jackman also voiced his support saying ‘no matter what, you’ve got a friend in me.’
‘Quaden, you are stronger than you know, mate,’ Hugh said in a video shared with his 14 million Twitter followers.
Yarraka Bayles, the boy’s mother, said the overwhelming support her son has received has been touching.
She said it went form being ‘the worst day of his life to the best day of his life’.
‘We’ve always had amazing community support, especially from the footy boys, they’re all his uncles, related to most of them, so they’ve always been there.’
‘We could never have dreamt in our wildest dreams that it would have gone worldwide and created such a media frenzy. Just being contacted non-stop, people turning up at our house and contacting every single person, it’s far exceeded anything we could have imagined.’
Ma Bayles said the outpouring of support for her son from around the world has been touching
Yaraka Bayles posted a video of her son Quaden (pictured) after he was relentlessly bullied at a Brisbane school
She also spoke about the hardships she and Quaden have had to endure on a daily basis.
‘It’s every person’s worst nightmare losing their babies and for me, that’s my reality every day,’ she said. ‘I have to prepare for the worst because everything he’s going through, his medical condition, the suicide attempts are very real and people don’t understand that.’
‘On top of that, being an Aboriginal boy with a disability, people don’t understand that’s a double edged sword, they don’t realise you’re discriminated against, it’s racism and then also discriminated against because of a disability. It’s extremely hard but it’s also strengthening.’
In addition to leading out the Indigenous All-Stars team a GoFundMe campaign has raised more than $170,000 to send the youngster to Disneyland.
NRL player Latrell Mitchell is one of a number of sports stars that have stepped forward to speak up for Quaden