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The attention by its
owners and the Toughman organization has a history of outright lies, use of
deceptive practices, and a death rate ten times that of sanction USA Amateur
Boxing. Shouldn’t those conditions be enough to hold Toughman responsible
for its actions? If Toughman were a person in boxing, the sport of amateur
boxing would have banned them long ago from the sport.
Toughman started
deceptive practices when boxing commissioners asked many years ago for
sanctioning bodies to sponsor events, and Toughman could not find a
sanctioning body willing to sponsor its activities so it created one for
itself. To begin with, it changed the original name from Art Dore’s
Boxing and Athletic Association to American Boxing and Athletic
Association (ABAA) to give the illusion of a separate independent
sanctioning body from that of Toughman. What is commonly not understood is
that the same owner, Art Dore, runs Toughman events and the ABAA.
The worst part of this is
that the boxing industry allowed this to occur. The purpose of creating its
own sanctioning body, Toughman is not only to deceive boxing commissioners
and allows them to work-around state statutes but it also confuses and
misleads the participant. The participant is lead to believe that the
sanctioning body is independent of the promoter and is protecting his or her
interest while in the ring. The purpose of a sanctioning body is to provide
this independent safety auditor and to add a level of trust to the event for
the participant. When that trust is breached or misused, how is any
participant ever going to know this? The answer is that they are not and
the promoter can use the participant for their purpose.
In 2003, "We've had Toughman here since the turn
of time," said Tom Houser, manager of Robarts Sports Arena in Sarasota,
Florida. "But it's not really Toughman, it's amateur boxing. It's all
sanctioned by the American Boxing and Athletic Association the ABAA." Houser
upon hearing that the ABAA owned by Art Dore and Art Dore owns Toughman
said, "I may have to take another look at this." (Detroit News, Bouts with
danger May 5, 2003).
The name change of the
ABAA keeps the boxer from never knowing that the same people are involved.
Once the ABAA is accepted as a sanctioning body by a commission, Toughman
promoters can now look out for themselves and their bank accounts. Now
without the sanctioning body that would require safety regulations Toughman
can provide a night of bloody knockout filled brawls to ensure a crowd
pleaser. They do this because fair and ethical competition is not exciting
enough in this age of extreme sports.
Art Dore has been quoted
in 1994 USA Today interview as saying “If you've come to see a boxing
match, you've come to the wrong place. This is entertainment. But this isn't
like wrestling ... This is legalized assault and battery.'' (http://web.gosanangelo.com/archive/97/july/6/wtl1.asp)
So even Art Dore agrees that he does not provide an amateur boxing event.
Headgear & Gloves
Toughman uses a type of
headgear that allows for more cuts and blood to be spilled than with USA
Boxing approved sparring gear. Remember Toughman wants the blood for its
entertainment value.
The purpose of boxing
headgear is to prevent cuts and abrasions to the face not to prevent head
trauma (http://sulcus.berkeley.edu/mcb/165_001/
papers/manuscripts/_164.html).
Headgear is also worn as an additional safety measure to prevent additional
injury if and when a boxer’s head may contact the ring floor. Experts have
proved that headgear absorbs sweat of the boxer thereby making the boxer's
head heavier. This increases the pendulum motion, or medically the sway,
when the head is impacted with a punch. This sway increases the risk of
brain damage.
Boxing gloves, only
protect the hands and fingers from being broken and do nothing to protect
the force of the impact to be minimized to the head. In actuality, the
physics of the sport shows that the added pound (16 ounce gloves) increases
the force of the blow since gloves do not slow down the speed a punch. This
again increases the risk of injury and trama to the participant.
There are those who
believe that if proper headgear and heavier gloves were introduced these
would reduce the number of boxers being killed or seriously injured, they
are wrong.
Toughman allows
unconditioned boxers who do not have the neck strength to avoid the sway
that results in serious injury (http://www.secondsout.com/ringside/goodman_52687.asp)
. In this, they are complicit and knowingly place these untrained boxer at
greater risk. They should be held responsible for making this choice of
allowing unconditioned people into the ring.
Ring Doctors
The American Boxing and
Athletic Association (ABAA), Art Dore’s nonprofit sanctioning body,
presented to the California State Athletic Commission that it is their
policy, prefers to have two, and usually has two doctors present at an event
(http://www.dca.ca.gov/csac/schedule/042002min.pdf). Toughman’s Art Dore
repeatedly have stated that Toughman always has always had a doctor present,
an outright lie, when IN FACT they have at times had nurse practitioners,
chiropractors and even veterinarians as a substitutes without informing the
boxing participants.
The president and founder
of the ABAA, Art Dore, has stated that a physician isn't really necessary at
a fight and that “an emergency medical technician (EMT) is a hell of a lot
better to have in case anybody gets hurt”. This is because “doctors do not
know what they are doing”, says Mr. Dore (Wall Street Journal, August 25,
2003). Art Dore is correct in that an EMT can treat a boxer if he or she is
hurt, but they do nothing to prevent the injury in the first place which is
the purpose of having a MD at ringside.
Doctors, when present,
are to examine the fighter, prior, during, and after each round to prevent
injury. By not having the doctor present, nor allowing the doctor to exam
the fighter in-between rounds, or stop a fight, as in Toughman, purposefully
puts the boxer at greater risk of injury, head trauma, and death.
Since there is no through
exam process before a Toughman event, a boxer may even enter into the ring
hyped or intoxicated. Toughman really does not care to screen for these
things since it adds to the entertainment value. Again, the goal is to feed
the audience blood and knockouts for entertainment and to bring in the cash
at the expense of others.
In sanctioned amateur
boxing, like USA Boxing or Golden Gloves, each boxer is examined before the
fight, after each round, and after the match is over. The doctor has the
ability to stop the fight at anytime during the match. These doctors even
have independent training as ringside physician, but Toughman does not
voluntarily use the trained doctors. Instead, Toughman may provide a so
called medical person, not necessarily a MD nor one trained in providing
ringside emergency medicine.
At some Toughman events
the preflight exam of the boxer is just a blood pressure check and a heart
rate check but no physical is ever done, no through ringside exams is done,
no after care is made available and the doctor does not have the authority
to stop the match.
Hurt fighters have been
pulled out of the ring and left on their own. They have waited at times
over 30 minutes before an ambulance was called by their loved ones to take
then to the hospital.
At Stacy Young’s in 2003,
in Sarasota Florida, the ringside physician was a
nurse practitioner.
When Eric Crow, 23,
was fatally injured in a 1995 Toughman event in Kansas City, the ring
physician also was a chiropractor.
When Art Liggins,
44, was killed in 2002, in Idaho, the ring physician was a chiropractor.
Referees & Trainers
Toughman has at times
hired unlicensed, untrained, referees. The promoter, the janitor, the
marketing representative, all have participated as referees for Toughman.
The untrained referees do not enforce amateur boxing rules and they do allow
illegal blows. They do not have the training necessary to call an illegal
bad blow nor give a warning to a boxer during an exchange of blows.
At Toughman competitions
referees allow fighters to use a variety of techniques that are illegal in
any sanctioned amateur boxing. For example, one technique is to hold the
back of an opponent's head with one hand while hitting him with the other
(The Wall Street Journal, August 25, 2003). Toughman referees allow this
to occur more times than they do not.
These unlicensed referees have no idea of how to conduct standing
eight counts or how to separate fighters. At other times, boxers have
indicated that they give up and the referee would not allow it. Again, the
purpose of this action is to encourage the knockout, which the promoters
want for the entertainment value.
The primary purpose of
the referees and the doctors are to provide the personal responsibility and
to ensure the safety of the boxers once two boxers are in the ring. They
are not to allow fights to continue when a boxer is in trouble that is why
they are there in the first place. For Toughman these personnel are
considered optional.
The following
information contained in the website is strictly
opinion and should not be considered as fact. Citations are
given to you for you
own purpose and ability to come to your own conclusion. These
references will assist you in answering
the question for yourself. Remember you should always question the
perspective of what is being presented. |
