THE ORIGINAL
TOUGHMAN CONTEST®

The History
Art Dore was a farm boy from
Bay City, Michigan. The drudgery of milking cows and hauling hay lacked excitement so sixteen year old Art turned to boxing. Rocky Marciano, Joe Louis, Jake Lamota - they were exciting! Art Dore fought his way up the ranks of Golden Gloves and then had to give it up in his early 20's to concentrate on his newly formed contracting business. However, boxing was always his first love, and as soon as he was able, he formed the Dore Boxing Club and began promoting amateur fights in the Bay City area, and then eventually professional fights.

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 Art Dore
Toughman founder, announcer, and CEO of Dore & Associates Contracting.

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 Those first Toughmen were punching it out in the ring, in from of their friends and family, for a little
fame and fortune.

 Dore tells the story of how he just got fed up with listening to the armchair athletes talk about how "they coulda' beat that guy." So one weekend he and long-time friend Dean Oswald rented a local arena and opened it up to the guys who wanted to prove how tough they were.

The boxing fans got to see what they really wanted: the hometown boys, the real amateurs, the seasoned street fighters with little or no boxing skill, but lots of guts. 
So it was, the first Toughman Contest was born. It was billed as clean, down-to-earth, back to basics fighting. No professionals, and no ringers, just 32 big tough guys that would get knocked down, and keep coming back for more until there would be only one left...the "Toughest Man in Town." The fans stood in line for over an hour in snow and two degree temperatures to get their tickets. The even sold out both nights, with standing room only within half an hour from the time the doors opened. 

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The same was true at the second contest in Marquette, Michigan held only a short time later.

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 Over the next two years, Dore refined the format to the safe and very entertaining production that fans now enjoy. The Toughman Contest has the most safety precautions in the sport of boxing. Head gear and padded groin protectors are required as are 16-ounce gloves and mouthpieces. Pre-fight physicals, a ringside physician, and experienced referees and cornermen further insure the safety of the fighters.
"The Original Toughman Contest has the strictest safety regulations and the best safety record among all forms of boxing including amateur and professional boxing and I have been involved in all of them," reports Murray Sutherland former I.B.F & U.S.B.A. Super Middleweight Champion.

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The first Toughman World Championship was held in the
Silverdome in Detroit. It drew over 30,000 devoted boxing fans
from across the nation who cheered on their favorite fighters
in their attempt to win the $50,000 first prize.
Toughman remains the best attended boxing event in the nation.