While boxing/martial arts training are excellent to handle bullying, it is most likely the case that this mother could not afford the costs of that type of training. IIRC my kid’s karate classes at a medium level studio ran $100+/mo, and that was more than 10 years ago.
No kidding (I’m SERIES), but when I was 5, Santa Claus brought my brother and I boxing gloves for Christmas. You can only imagine how thrilled “Mrs. Claus” was with that... every squabble involved putting on the gloves, and we couldn’t tie the laces up on the gloves ourselves.