Legal Loophole protects Toughman boxing bouts

[Kungfoolss]

Legal loophole leaves Toughman punching

06/18/03

The amateur boxing match blamed in the ring death of a 30-year-old Bradenton woman who died Tuesday may have been illegal, according to Florida state statutes. But a semantic loophole in the law allowed Michigan-based AdoreAble Promotions Inc. to stage the event Saturday night at Sarasota’s Robarts Sports Arena, as it has done for several years all over Florida. “Pugilistic exhibitions,” as boxing matches are euphemistically called, are regulated under Title XXXIII, Chapter 548 of the state statutes, which established the Florida Boxing Commission under the Secretary of Business and Professional Regulation in 1988.

Section 548.008 states: “No professional or amateur toughman or badman match, as described in this section, may be held in this state. Such competition includes any contest or exhibition where participants compete by using a combination of skills. Such skills may include, but are not limited to, boxing, wrestling, kicking or martial arts skills.” The statute also makes it a second-degree misdemeanor to participate or promote a “toughman” or “badman” fight. But Jay Frank, a public information officer with the Sarasota Police Department, said Saturday’s event was legal because, as a boxing match, it didn’t involve the “combination of skills” banned by the statute. “That’s the loophole where they’re allowed to have it in the state,” Frank said. “(Stacy Young) got into the ring of her own free will.”

On Tuesday, Frank announced the police were launching an investigation into the fight that killed Young. Chris Meffert, executive director of the Florida State Boxing Commission, said the loophole was unintentional. “An effort was made by the Legislature to prohibit these type of contests. At the same time, there’s legitimate amateur boxing: the Police Athletic League, Golden Gloves, Olympic trials,” Meffert explained. "They didn’t want to put a burden on amateur boxing or regulate it, so they defined Toughman as using a combination of skills. “When they did that, the effect was to open the loophole that (Toughman founder) Art Dore drove his truck through. Dore’s researched it, and he’s operating it as close to the line as he can,” Meffert said. “I think our Legislature intended to outlaw it completely.” Although Meffert said he didn’t know about Saturday’s matches beforehand, Dore’s office has sometimes alerted the commission to its events.

The state statutes are primarily established to regulate professional boxing, defined as matches with a prize of more than a $50 value. Opponents’ weights must be within 12 pounds of each other, and boxers must be insured for at least $20,000 to cover medical, surgical and hospital bills. With three full-time staff and a $300,000 annual budget, the commission sanctioned and supervised 53 matches last year, with six to 10 bouts on the card. That total includes 12 kickboxing and other martial arts exhibitions. “We have a team of inspectors in the dressing rooms, supervising how the fighters’ hands are wrapped, one inspector in each corner of the ring and two ringside physicians,” Meffert said. “Commission members attend the matches and appoint the referees and judges to ensure the match is not fixed.” Since Toughman is an amateur competition, none of those regulations apply.

“Boxing is an extremely dangerous sport, but they’re taking people literally off the street and putting them in the ring,” Meffert complained. “We research the records of fighters in a central repository. We have professional matchmakers, licensed by the state, review every match before it’s approved.” AdoreAble Promotions Inc. expressed “sadness” at Young’s death in a press release Tuesday afternoon. Although Dore cited statistics purportedly showing that Toughman boxing is less dangerous than motorcycle racing, scuba diving or college football, he announced that all future contests are on hold until company officials determine what can be done to further reduce risks to competitors.

http://www.sun-herald.com/NewsArchive2/061803/tp5np3.htm?date=061803&story=tp5np3.htm

[Kungfoolss]

Toughman mom dies after boxing match

06/18/03

It sounded like a lark, “just a silly fun little thing we’d laugh about afterward,” Jodie Meyers recalled. So her sister, Stacy Young, 30, a wife, mother and teacher-to-be, signed a release, put on the gloves, foul protector and headgear and climbed into the boxing ring Saturday night at Robarts Sports Arena in Sarasota. Three days later, Young was dead of massive brain injuries, leaving her grieving husband, children and family “devastated,” in Meyer’s words.

Young had entered the “Toughman Contest,” an unregulated amateur boxing match held across the country – where it hasn’t been banned. She was trying to last three one-minute rounds against a female opponent who weighed 60 pounds less than she did, but who was apparently more skilled and experienced. Young almost made it through all three rounds, but repeated blows to the head staggered her. When she couldn’t rise from the canvas after the third bell, she was airlifted to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg. Unable to breathe on her own and suffering from swelling and hemorrhaging in the brain, she was connected to life-support equipment. Doctors declared her brain dead at 6:33 p.m. Monday, then informed the family. “We went in to say goodbye while her body was still alive,” Meyers said. “She will be an organ donor, she would have wanted that.” Young was disconnected from life support Tuesday afternoon, Bayfront spokesman Bill Hervey said. Hospital representatives at one point Tuesday prematurely reported her death when she was still on life support. Young’s remains will be returned to Arizona.

The Sarasota Police Department opened an investigation into the events leading to Young’s death Tuesday to determine if any laws were broken. The sisters come from Tucson, Ariz., where their parents still live. Meyers moved to Bradenton four years ago to be closer to her husband’s family, and Young followed in February with her husband, Chuck, a welder, and daughters Chantelle, 9, and Cassie, 12. Meyers described her sister as a former unmarried teen mother who was intent on bettering herself. She worked at Pearle Vision Centers in Sarasota and Bradenton. Both women were enrolled full time at the University of Phoenix, studying to become teachers by taking classes over the Internet. They were the first members of their family to attend college. “She was very easy-going and nonconfrontational, determined to make her life better and doing that by creating good family life,” Meyers said. “Our parents are devastated. This was their baby.”

Young’s death has left Chuck, her husband of six years, crushed with guilt, Meyers said. A sports fan, Chuck took his wife to the first night of the boxing competition on Friday. He tried to compete, but lasted less than 30 seconds in the ring. The event’s promoters had a female boxer with no opponent. They asked Young if she wanted to fight, then waived her entrance fee when she agreed. “Before Friday, she had no intentions of doing this,” Meyers said. Meyers, who also attended the match, said the promoters told Young it was “fun and safe; don’t worry about it.” Toughman fighters wear head gear, kidney protectors and 16-ounce gloves, but still three competitors have died in the last nine months and some say the total number of deaths in the circuit’s 24-year history is as high as nine. “She was not told about the previous deaths and head injuries” that have led several states to ban Toughman fights, Meyers said. Nor was Young informed that a statute on the Florida books specifically prohibits Toughman fights. But the law contains a loophole that allows them to continue: The matches must remain strictly boxing – no mixed martial arts that would include kicking or grappling.

Meyers also questions whether her sister’s opponent was truly an amateur boxer. Neither police nor the fight’s promoters, AdoreAble Promotions Inc. of Michigan, have released the opponent’s name, but Meyers said it was “Sarah Colby.” With the sudden loss of Young’s income, her husband and children are facing hard times. “Her daughters are devastated; their whole world depended on their mother,” Meyers said. “Their sense of connection to the world and, in a financial sense, everything about their lives is going to be changed. In two weeks the rent is due, and there’ll be no paycheck coming in.” Meyers said the family is still asking questions and hasn’t decided yet whether to file a lawsuit against the promoters. “As badly as I feel, and Stacy was my best friend in the whole world, Chuck’s going to bear this guilt forever,” Meyers said. “They were very much in love.” A bank account has been set up for contributions to Young’s family. Donations may be sent to: Florida First Bank, 11505 Palmbrush Trail, Bradenton, FL 34202, account No. 0241002039, the “Stacy Young Donation.”

http://www.sun-herald.com/NewsArchive2/061803/tp4np2.htm?date=061803&story=tp4np2.htm

[Osiris1]

“Toughman fighters wear head gear, kidney protectors and 16-ounce gloves, but still three competitors have died in the last nine months and some say the total number of deaths in the circuit’s 24-year history is as high as nine.”

LOL. I wouldnt step in that ring for shit.

“If martial arts are about sex, the kata must be masturbation.” Fighty McGee

[m4949]

I guess ref’s aren’t required to stop fights. Even if a pro fighter doesn’t go down, the ref will stop a fight that is as mis-matched as this sounds.

Your skills are EXTRAordinary; You have our Gratitude.

[Kungfoolss]

NEWS UPDATE:

Debt grows for husband of fight victim

Chuck Young of Bradenton, whose wife died in a Toughman contest, faces mounting medical bills.

July 18. 2003

By PATTY ALLEN-JONES
patty.allen-jones@heraldtribune.com

SARASOTA – First he lost his wife. Now, Chuck Young may be forced into bankruptcy because he’s unable to pay medical bills that accumulated after his wife, Stacy, was fatally injured in a Toughman fighting bout. An early tabulation by an attorney for the Young family put medical costs at about $35,000. But Chuck Young is still waiting for a final bill from Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, where his 30-year-old wife was flown by helicopter after the Toughman contest in Sarasota in mid-June, said Jodie Meyers, his sister-in-law. She said she can’t imagine that the neuro-intensive treatment her sister received will be inexpensive.

Young recently returned to work as a welder, but is barely supporting himself and his children without his wife’s income as an optician, Meyers said. The estimated $1,600 donated to the Stacy Young account so far has helped some. “Chuck doesn’t have the ability to meet even his rent right now, and is only doing so currently through the contributions received from a few family members and members of the community,” Meyers said, speaking for her brother-in-law. Attorneys for the Bradenton man have prohibited him from talking to the media. Stacy Young competed in the Toughman Contest, a fighting event for untrained and inexperienced boxers, at Robarts Arena on June 14. She left the ring with brain damage after fighting Sarah Kobie, 20, a Bradenton cake decorator. Young died three days later after being disconnected from life support.

Before Stacy Young’s fight that Saturday, Tony Roten was in the Toughman ring. He left with head injuries and has been unable to return to his job as a tree trimmer. In and out of the hospital ever since, the 30-year-old has been treated for intensive nerve, ligament, and optical nerve damage, said family friend Cindi Young. He has trouble walking and keeping his balance, she said. Doctors are treating him under the expectation that a lawsuit might be filed and might yield money to pay his bills, Cindi Young said. Roten’s attorney, Greg Kehoe, who is also representing Stacy Young’s family, is waiting for Sarasota police to complete their investigation before taking legal action in either case, family and friends said. Police are looking into whether Toughman promoter Art Dore of Michigan violated Florida’s law regarding the value of prizes. They are also attempting to determine the credentials of the referee on duty and whether the fighters were examined by doctors before the bout. State officials have tried to ban Toughman in Florida, but Dore, who started the competition in 1979, uses loopholes in the law to continue the fights.

Local officials, meanwhile, are trying to close the gaps. On Wednesday the Sarasota County Commission will review a draft of a proposed ordinance regulating amateur boxing, kickboxing, or mixed martial arts events. If it meets their approval, commission members will direct staff to advertise for public hearings on the proposal. According to the proposal, it will be unlawful to promote or participate in an amateur fighting event where alcohol is served and an admission fee is charged. However, promoters can apply for a county permit if they are governed by an authorized regulatory body and can meet other county requirements. An organization founded by Dore is the only one now sanctioning Toughman. The Sarasota City Commission will consider adopting the county ordinance.

But state laws to get tough on Toughman will have to wait until next year, according to the leading sponsor, Rep. Donna Clarke, R-Sarasota. She filed a bill to make amateur fighting events illegal in Florida unless they’re sanctioned by a reputable body, and to strengthen the penalties for violators. She conceded this week that the bill won’t be heard during the protracted special legislative session devoted to medical malpractice.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030718/NEWS/307180466/1006/SPORTS