Ine Blue Banner/1hursday, April I/, iy«6/i3
National Toughman Finals in Asheville
little whfle longer. nocent looking pun°h
The participants were from Chuck Barcliit.
often not what you ex- Rathbone went to the
pected them to be. mat and tried to get
Chris "Bad To The Bone" up.
Furry, a participant. He made it to his
from Ohio, looked like feet but was out of his
an old man. I mean head. The referee
George Thorogood he’s counted him out and
not. He looked more then tried to
like the white shadow. to his corner. Rathbone
The crowd laughed and could not coordinate
leered when he was in- himself to sit down,
troduced. but by his but collapsed to the
last match he had won floor,
not only the crowd’s The doctor rushed
fflvor but three vie- into the ring and
tories as well. He was worked with Rathbone
f TC?ht Tfe- r ? xftMs o^seTe::
^^Several opponents was able to regain his
were locals and crowd balance
favorites. They includ- was helped out °f t
Pd Ronnie Rathbone from ring. Later he wa.
Spruce Pine, Terry Dyer mingling with the crowd
from BarnardsviUe, and seemingly unhurt.
Vpnus Searles from The contest was often
Asheville. a bloody affair. Robby
Bflthbone and Dyer won Robinson's second match
, «ailard hit Jeff their first match Sat- Sat^rday^^
I «iva with a powerful urday night, but B„Ki-nqnn nut on a show
, P^neh, knocking him to Searles lost to a Mattering Greenway
i *he shaney m her^^ first batten g^^
Mht^ne seem^ to be Greenway showed why
Sports Editorial
°y Chris Allison
The 1986 National
Heavyweight Toughman
Contest Finals held in
Asheville Civic
penter consisted of an
JJ’teresting collage of
" ^^awlers and boxers
the United States
Canada.
' ^obby Robinson won
men’s division
I’'*labile Brevard’s Tammy
' ' haney won the women’s
championship.
The participants dif-
-'^ed in age and style,
all were undeniably
I used to think
these people were
jUst guys who thought
;were bad.
^ ^ell they were right,
have to be tough to
Quintan Ballard, a
j pound former pro
^tball player, stalk
j around a small ring
?% to pound your head
; in.
Mallard hit Jeff
^aiva
. knocking him to
canvas. Saiva sim-
laid down until the
was over and
up, bounding out the overall " ntesT."'Robinson con
the ring. I guess orit^e. ht, nected several punches
, «'va decided he woiUd fight ^ ^ i„. jo Greenway's nose
’’'e to be around a he was stunnea ov a lo
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early in the match.
Greenway then fought
most of the match with
blood streaming from
his nose.
The fight continued
despite the blood and
Robinson continued to
work on Greenway’s
nose. The fight itself
was boring but Green way
showed either guts, in
eptitude, or both.
Robinson faced Bal
lard in the men’s semi
finals. Despite Bal
lard’s size advantage,
Robinson took control
of the match from the
In the final, Robin-
son and Bartcliffe
squared off.
beginning. Ballard
fought hard, but could
never land any punches
on Robinson.
Using his quickness,
Robinson was able to
get in on Ballard and
knock him down. Ballard
took the full count but
raised his gloves to
continue. Robinson then
quickly moved in and
I battered Ballard.
Ballard got up but
would not continue.
In the other semi
final match, Barclift
had a much closer
fight. His opponent,
Chris Furry fought
hard.
Barcliffe stunned
Furry early in the
match. Furry came back
however. He survived
several barrages from
Barcliffe and landed
some hard punches stun
ning Barcliffe late in
the match. Despite
Furry’s comeback, Bar
cliffe won on a split
decision.
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In the men’s final,
Barcliffe and Robinson
squared off. Barcliffe
stunned Robinson early
in the first round.
Robinson quickly re
covered and retaliated
with a quick flurry. In
the second round, Rob
inson hurt Barcliffe
and knocked him into
the ropes for a knock
down.
Barcliffe got back up
and Robinson swarmed on
him nearly knocking
Barcliffe through the
ropes. Barcliffe was
unable to get up and
Robinson won by
knockout.
In the wcxnen’s compe
tition Brevard's Tammy
Shaney defeated Maria
Mckelway in a comeback
victory. Mckelway stun
ned Shaney in the first
two rounds. She landed
many solid punches to
Shaney’s face, but
Shaney held her ground.
Once again I was
amazed at how much
these fighters could
take. Despite two solid
rounds from Mckelway,
Shaney came back back
strong in the third
round. She knocked
Shaney down twice and
dominated most of the
round.
The judges must have
been impressed by her
third round performance
because she was awarded
the win as the crowd
voiced it’s approval.
The toughman contest
is not what you might
expect. If you expect
to see stylish, smooth
boxers you will be dis
appointed. But if you
think these guys and
girls are all over
weight brawlers you are
wrong.
The participants, in
this contest at least,
were winners and for
the most part pretty
good fighters. They re
present that American
drive to be the best
and be a winner. They
may or may not win but
they will probably keep
trying and that’s all
that matters.