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Boxing Day Becomes Boxing Match in Toronto Shopping Mall Parking Lot [Video]

By Robert Jonathan
Published on: 07:00 PST, Jan 3, 2016

A Boxing Day boxing match broke out between two men over a parking space at a packed Toronto-area shopping mall.

The incident, perhaps, gives a new meaning to “shop ’till you drop” and occurred at the Square One Mall in Mississauga, Ontario, which is located in the Greater Toronto Area.

Having nothing to do with pugilism, Boxing Day is a national holiday in the U.K., Canada, and other countries associated with the former British empire. The event takes place on the day after Christmas and prompts Black Friday-like sales and crowds at retail stores.

A Twitter user with the handle Sylvester StillAlone apparently filmed the violent altercation in the parking lot with a cell phone camera and uploaded the clip [NSFW for language] to social media networks.

London’s Mirror Online described what went down on Boxing Day at the mall parking lot.

‘This is the shocking moment two men appeared to take Boxing Day literally as they engaged in a vicious punch-up in a row over a parking space. In the footage, both men are seen punching each other in the face after they allegedly got into a fight over an empty parking space. The clip… shows the men launching blows in the middle of the busy car park as onlookers watch in disbelief.”

Cops arrested one of the alleged participants, age 38, one one count of assault and one count of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle. He has a January 19 court date, CBS News Toronto noted.. The other man who was detained apparently was not charged. One of them suffered minor injuries in the scuffle according to authorities.

“Officers said they did not charge three minors who originally fled the scene, and police are not looking for any other suspects,” CTV News Toronto reported. “They say they decided to only charge one person after consulting video and witness evidence.”

“I found out today why they call it Boxing Day, and it has nothing to do with getting good deals. I’m going home. I haven’t even made it inside the mall yet…I’m done,” remarked Sylvester StillAlone on the video.

Although how it got started has yet to be totally nailed down, Boxing Day dates back to the Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs era and even much earlier than that, according to the Associated Press.

“Perhaps the most widely held understanding of its origins comes from the tradition of wealthier members of society giving servants and tradesmen a so-called ‘Christmas Box’ containing money and gifts on the day after Christmas. It was seen as a reward for a year’s worth of service. Other believe it comes from the post-Christmas custom of churches placing boxes outside their doors to collect money for distribution to less-fortunate members of society in need of Christmas cheer…There are other explanations, but it’s clear the designation has nothing to do with the modern habit of using the holiday for shopping at ‘big box’ stores selling televisions, computers and the like.”

Last year, Boxing Day accounted for a record $4.5 billion or so in after-Christmas sales at a brick-and-mortar outlets and online, the Inquisitr reported.

Perhaps a reflection of how parking spaces are at a premium which could lead — in an isolated case — to physical aggression, the Sunday Express claims that Boxing Day 2015 could be biggest bargain hunt of all time, just in Scotland alone. “Aggressive shoppers shoved each other to grab goods which had seen their prices slashed by up to 90%.” Said one shopping mall manager about the crowds there,”It’s the busiest start to the Boxing Day sales we’ve had for years and it got even busier as the day went on, so we brought in extra staff to direct traffic in the free car parks.”

[Image via YouTube]

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