When Ohio University and its sports administration program discontinued Friday Night at the Fights this fall, some of the people involved with the annual amateur boxing showcase shrugged and planned for the future, but others vowed to keep it alive.
Andrew Kreutzer, head of the sports administration program, said he decided to end the university's association with the event because of the concern of serious injury, especially long-term neurological damage.
It was always a concern
Kreutzer said, noting that in 25 years of events, no one was seriously hurt. If there is a serious injury then you're closing the barn door after the cows.
Kreutzer said though professional boxers take health risks as part of their profession, he did not want his program to be responsible for amateurs facing the same risks.
That wasn't a fun decision by any means because of the popularity of the events he said.
Friday Night at the Fights began in 1974 at The Convo and continued until 1995, when the university pulled its support for the event for the same reasons cited now. The next year, Kevin Martin, a local landscaper and instructor of bando, a form of Burmese martial arts, who was then coach of the OU Boxing Club, and current Athens City Councilwoman Carol Patterson, then an Athens High School teacher, put on an independent Friday Night at the Fights at Athens High School. Martin is serving as Patterson's campaign manager.
The event was not held for several years but was revived at the high school in 2004 and returned to The Convo this year for its 25th installment.
Kreutzer said the sports administration masters students have been charged with creating a new event as part of their class work.
Our goal is to find an event that provides the same level of entertainment without the same risk to the people who are providing it
Kreutzer said.
Masters student Brent Schoeb was on the sponsorship committee for Friday Night at the Fights last year and is helping to generate ideas for a different event. He said he's confident the students can come up with something appealing but acknowledged the draw of Friday Night at the Fights.
There was nothing really similar for an entertainment value in Athens
Schoeb said. OU was one of the only universities that had students boxing.
Sam Jones, a boxing trainer and bando instructor who owns Sam's Gym in Glouster, has helped train the boxers for Friday Night at the Fights since the event's inception. He acknowledged that boxing can result in injury and said he respects the university's decision to pull its support.
But Jones said he took extra steps to ensure safety such as adding extra padding to gloves - he compared them to pillows on hands - and using special headgear.
The only injuries we ever had was somebody got a bloody nose or something or maybe got embarrassed when they got knocked on their rear end
Jones said.
Any time you're in a contact sport
you can have an injury
he said.
Kreutzer said the difference between boxing and other sports is that injuring your opponent is the goal.
You don't have another sport where the objective is to render your opponent unconscious
he said.
Martin, who revived Friday Night at the Fights in 1996 and hopes to organize another fight night for spring 2006, disagrees with Kreutzer. He said hockey coaches have sent many players to his bando classes to learn how to hurt their opponents.
Martin, a 1991 national kickboxing champion, also said getting hurt is inherent to boxing, and that's OK.
There's a need to exercise your combative discipline. There's a need to test yourself against another warrior
he said.
Martin said Friday Night at the Fights will live on with or without OU's support.
It doesn't belong to you or me or the building. Friday Night at the Fights belongs to southeastern Ohio
he said. It'll never be dead.
