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A series of deaths may take down Toughman

By Suzanne Smalley

Original

10/9/03 - Art Dore loves playing the tough guy. With his black ostrich boots and garish, diamond-encrusted rings, the flamboyant 67-year-old looks and acts like a small-time fight promoter. Which in fact he is.

For more than two decades, Dore has presided over Toughman, the gritty, often brutal, series of amateur prize fights held across the country. The events, at least 100 every year, draw huge crowds—truckers in boots, lawyers in loafers—who pay $25 to $50 to see average Joes pound on other average Joes. Winners emerge with black eyes, pocketfuls of cash—and bragging rights at the local bar.

To hear Dore tell it, it’s just good, clean fun. “We’ve had fathers and sons fight each other,” he says with a deep belly laugh. “We had two brothers—one just beat the bejesus out of the other after knocking him down.” Toughman also features fights between women. Dore enjoys the action so much that he attends every event—events that have made him a rich man. He says Toughman grosses at least $5 million annually. “A lot of guys just want to be a local hometown hero,” Dore says. “They get to be stars in front of their families and friends.”

Unless they wind up dead. Over the years, at least eight people have died from Toughman fights—four just in the last 12 months. Many other fighters have been seriously injured. Last June, Stacy Young, a 30-year-old mother, suffered severe brain injuries in a brutal Florida brawl. She died a few days later. Now Dore is fending off lawsuits from Young’s family and other injured fighters while states and localities try to force Toughman to comply with the same safety regulations governing pro-boxing events. Ten states have either banned or attempted to ban the contests altogether.

Dore says his detractors are just “jealous of all the tickets we’re selling.” And he shows little sympathy for Young. “She signed a waiver saying she had been training for the event,” he says. “The object of a boxing match is to make the other guy unable to fight back. It can lead to death. Why are people so surprised when someone gets hurt? After all, that’s the object of the game.” Dore insists he tries to make the fights as safe as possible. The boxers wear padded gloves and sparring headgear. And a doctor is on standby.

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