June 20, 1979: Brawlers slug it out in So You Think You’re Tough competition
Call the event “So You Wanna Fight,” or “So You Think You’re Tough,” or “So You Think You’re The Toughest Guy In Town,” wrote Journal sports columnist Cam Cole.
“Whatever name you choose for the phenomenon (local promoter) Nick Zubray is helping to promote tonight in the Northlands Gardens, it’s certainly making news around Western Canada.”
Twenty raw amateurs slugged it out for upwards of $7,000 in prize money amid concerns that someone who went down might never get up again.
The Edmonton Boxing and Wrestling Commission was totally against these unsanctioned fights when the event was first proposed, but wound up sanctioning it, albeit with tough medical and technical requirements that had to be met.
This new concept of brawling where pugilists had ranged from burly bikers to longshoremen, bouncers and loggers, had already been a big hit in Vancouver and Kamloops, although a recent event in Vancouver required police action.
Regina city council had recommended the local boxing and wrestling commission there refuse to sanction such a tournament, but the commission decided to sanction it anyway, explaining it was satisfied with the safety measures that would be taken.
In Kamloops, however, the council out-and-out refused to allow anything of the kind in any city facility.
In Edmonton, some 2,500 gleeful fight fans hooted and hollered during three hours of “non-stop slapstick, as the all-comers tournament drew odd-shaped contestants from all sorts of occupations,” Cole wrote.
“From the muscular blackbelt karate experts to the bloated 237-pound form of ex-Canadian amateur light heavyweight champion Gerry Day — to the Edmonton Transit bus driver who knocked a city Water and Sanitation worker senseless in one super-heavyweight match — everyone was throwing haymakers.”
Wizened old boxing veterans watched and shook their heads in disbelief.
“There’s not much boxing going on out there,” grumbled Scotty McGrandle, “but there’s one hell of a lot of fighting.”
Ken Lakusta and Jim Walker, a pair of Edmonton karate school instructors, were crowned champions of the heavyweight and superheavyweight divisions.
Nobody died that night, but middleweight fighter Don McLaughlin, a construction worker, broke rendering plant worker Joe Peacock’s nose and a few teeth to win the championship match by knockout after exactly eight seconds.
“It’s been broken before — no sweat,” said Peacock, holding an ice pack to his broken schnozz. “I still had a good time.” T he “So You Think You’re Tough” competition launched Lakusta’s pro career as a heavyweight boxer. He went on to become a twotime Canadian champ.