How does an 8-year-old girl please her kickboxing daddy?

This is not Australia at its finest:

There were tears in the ring when two little girls went to toe to toe in a kick-boxing bout at the weekend.

But one of the girls' fathers says his eight-year-old daughter loves the rough and tumble of the sport.

Jasmine Parr cried during her first Muay Thai fight, on the Gold Coast.

She admitted she had been scared of her opponent, seven-year-old Georgina "Punchout" Barton, from Brisbane.

Health experts had criticised the fight, saying the girls were too young to be slugging it out and could suffer brain damage.

But kick-boxing world champion John Wayne Parr has defended his decision to allow his daughter to glove up and step into the ring.

Parr, who has eight world titles, said the fight was "beautiful to watch" and Jasmine had "loved it".

"My daughter and I shared an experience which no medical expert will ever understand," he said.

"It was amazing, it was history and something we'll never forget.

"Jasmine is already talking about her next fight."

...Parr said Muay Thai was safer than ordinary boxing because it involved body kicking as well as punching.

"She might have two fights a year - I'm not trying to smash her," he said.

A seven-year-old girl named Georgina "Punchout" Barton kickboxes a crying 8-year-old girl in front of an audience of mostly adult men.

My theory is this: there are some men who want sons to mentor and when they end up with daughters they treat them like the sons they don't have.

I don't think they're respecting the unique qualities of their daughters in doing this.

Nor are they looking ahead to their daughters' future lives. A childhood spent violently fighting other girls is not exactly going to cultivate the feminine qualities these girls will need as wives and mothers.