Question stalls proposal to regulate toughman bouts
A Senate committee worries that the bill might interfere with youth boxing programs.
By Associated Press
Published February 19, 2004
TALLAHASSEE - A proposal to regulate organized fights known as toughman competitions stalled Wednesday in the Senate because of questions about the bill's effect on youth sports.
The measure is known as the Stacy Young Act, after a 30-year-old Bradenton mother of two who was beaten into a coma and died after she entered a contest on an impulse in June in Sarasota.
Such unregulated fights - often staged in bars, where doctors might not be present and contestants typically aren't warned about the dangers - would be barred under the proposal, SB 538, sponsored by Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach.
The bill would prohibit staging amateur fights unless the match is sanctioned and supervised by an organization approved by the state boxing commission. The commission would get authority to make rules requiring health and safety standards.
At least four people have died in the past two years in toughman competitions around the nation. Such competitions have been banned in five states.
Members of the Senate Regulated Industries Committee raised several questions about Lynn's bill, including whether it might interfere with youth boxing programs. Lynn said she would work on the language with those concerned to make sure it didn't. Committee Chairman Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, postponed the hearing on the bill until next week.
The bill would need approval from three other Senate committees before reaching the full Senate.
Sarasota County has passed an ordinance governing amateur boxing, kickboxing and other fighting contests, requiring permits for contests at any place where admission is charged and alcohol is sold. It requires sanctioning by a national organization governing one of the sports, a doctor at ringside and an ambulance on site. Contestants must have physicals before and after the match.
