| Sarasota,
Florida is the cultural center of the west coast of Florida. Yet
on June 9th and 10th, a despicable and extremely dangerous
Toughman Contest, sponsored by Budweiser Beer, took place at
Robards Arena. This was the third straight year this event was
allowed to take place. And nobody in Sarasota, or even in
the state of Florida knows exactly how this event was
sanctioned, or licensed. Or in fact, if it was sanctioned,
or licensed. This in a city where just a few short months ago, a
boxer in Venice Arena was sent into a coma, from which he still
has not emerged.
The creep behind the Toughman Contest is Art
Dore, who looks like a constipated Kenny Rogers. Dore started the
Toughman Contest 21 years ago in
Bay City, Michigan. He advertises his crass event with such
slogans as "You Think You're Tough Enough for This? and
"Some Take a Stomping. Others Do the Whomping."
One of the poor souls who was whomped good
was Eric Crow, a 23-year old who died in after injuries received
in a Toughman Contest in 1997 in Kansas
City Missouri. Marilyn Jarczyk , Crow's mother, told the Kansas
City Star "The boxer who fought Eric had five years'
experience and was considering going professional. ''Eric had not
boxed before. He thought he was going to go up against other guys
of his same caliber."
Jarczyk said she was also upset that the
contest hired a chiropractor to
check out fighters after bouts instead of a medical doctor. She
said she did
not think chiropractors were qualified to spot the symptoms of
serious head
injuries.
Crow, the father of a 17-month-old girl, won
a match Dec. 8, 1997 and was cleared by a chiropractor to fight
the next day. Jarczyk said that her son vomited at Memorial Hall
after the first fight but that people associated with the contest
told him it probably was just caused by nerves.
``But next morning, Eric told me he felt
lightheaded and was extremely tired,'' Jarczyk said. ``We had a
hard time waking him up to get to his fight Saturday.''
Jarczyk said she now knows that those were
possible symptoms of a concussion. She said she was angry no one
recognized them.
``We were given no instruction, no signs of
symptoms,'' she said. ``This contest is unsafe, it is unfair, and
it is deadly.''
A Dec. 14 autopsy showed that Crow died from
bleeding in the brain. The
coroner said a strong blow to the head or several blows caused the
bleeding.
There are two other deaths associated with
Toughman Contests, or similar
events:
1. Ricky Sanders, 27, died in March 1992 after a Bad Man Contest
in
Scottsboro, Ala., in which he was knocked down several times.
According to
the coroner, Sanders died a few days later of cranial
cerebral trauma.
2. Bobby Troy DePue, 26, left the ring of a Toughman Contest in
June 1994 in
Lafayette, La., after having breathing problems. He died the next
day.
Toughman contests are now banned in 17
stares including, New York,
Missouri and Louisiana. They are also banned throughout Canada.
This fraud Dore denies the Toughman Contests
are not supervised properly.
He says contestants sign releases acknowledging the risks. Dore
also had the nerve to say that Eric Crow knew exactly what
he was getting himself into the night of his fight.
Steve Gordon is the editor of www.cyberboxingzone.com.
Gordon says, "Toughman Contests are the nadir of
manhood."
Gordon knows that the yahoos who enter this
event are the types that have more tattoos than teeth, or
certainly brains. These cretins love to bar fight, and Toughman
Contests allow them to show the world, "They Really Are Tough
Enough."
Dore appeared on a local Sarasota TV program
they day before the event.
He was accompanied by two twin brothers straight out of
"Deliverance," and a
man affectionately called "Gator Man," who was
accompanied by a yard-long gator, the gator's mouth tied shut. The
emcee of the show guffawed and patronized Dore like they were two
frat brothers in a topless bar. If anyone's mouth should've been
tied shut, it was Dore's and the emcee's. The scene was straight
out of Jerry Springer, and if this is what Sarasota is coming to,
it might be a good time to take a fast freight out of town.
The question that begs to be asked is ,
"How this dangerous event was allowed to take place in
Sarasota in the first place." Calls to the Florida State
Athletic Commission were answered by a machine, and although a
number was left several times, no one at the commission returned
the calls.
As for the Sarasota city government, calls
were place to several city agencies including, occupational
licensing and the Mayor's Office. But everyone played dumb,
or maybe they really are dumb.
Calls to Robards Arena on the day of the
fight were met with a recording of a confused and stuttering woman
who said to prospective combatants, "Don't forget to bring
your mouth pieces." She also said they were too busy to
answer any live calls.
Yeah, too busy mentally counting the cash
that the Toughman Contest would bring in that night, from
admission, tee shirt sales and especially Budweiser Beer sales.
The fights will be allowed to take place.
Hopefully no one will be hurt seriously. And Dore will go back
under the rock he crawled out from.
As for Budweiser Beer, shame on them, Louie
the Lizard and even the frogs and the ferret. Next time you want a
brew, make it a Miller Lite.
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