When innocence and necessity clash: E:60 season finale reports on children’s professional Muay Thai fighting in Thailand

Culture, context and consequences will be examined on tonight’s season finale of E:60 (7 p.m. ET, ESPN/WatchESPN) through a story called “Children of the Ring,” which reports on Thailand’s growing sport of children’s professional Muay Thai fighting and the human rights debate it has spawned.

Reported by Jeremy Schaap and produced by Beein Gim, the feature will challenge viewers to watch with cultural context in mind. An estimated 30,000 Thai children, some as young as seven, fight in a sport funded by organized crime and gambling so they can financially support their families, while exposing themselves to potential negative, long-term medical effects, including brain damage.

In the above video, Schaap and Gim preview the story, discuss the challenges of conveying this story to the audience, and how being within the Thai culture challenged their own views on this issue.

The seventh-season finale will also feature ABC News reporter Bob Woodruff’s inspirational story of Johnny Agar, the son of Jeff Agar, a 1980s minor leaguer in the Detroit Tigers’ organization. Johnny Agar has cerebral palsy but still pursues his sports dreams.

In addition, Lisa Salters catches up with former NBA star Penny Hardaway, who now helps coach a youth basketball team to help a cancer-stricken friend. For more information and behind-the-scenes photos, follow @E60 on Twitter and like E:60 on Facebook.

Video produced by Tonya Malinowski