Toughman to feature show within the show
Apr. 13—The West Virginia Toughman Contest may be making its 43rd visit to Beckley, but longtime fans of the event are likely to notice a few new features.
The two-day tournament will start Friday at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center. Fights will start at 7 p.m. both nights.
"It keeps getting bigger and better, actually," promoter Jerry Thomas said. "We've made some upgrades. In fact, we replaced our ring and all the accessories in January. Had to retire the old ring at 33 years of service. We've also expanded our broadcast production team, added some more people and equipment. We have commentators at ringside now. Additional cameras shooting the event. It's live-streamed on pay-per-view from start to finish both nights."
One major difference will be the show within the show.
Producer Curren Sheldon has begun work on his latest film, "Beat Down" and this weekend's event will figure prominently into the movie.
Sheldon and his wife Elaine McMillion Sheldon won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Documentary for "Heroin(e)" in 2018, and were nominated for another, as well as an Oscar.
"He came up with the idea and he's partnered up with another producer and they're filming a movie called 'Beat Down', which is about a guy from southern West Virginia who is down on his luck and enters the Toughman Contest to try to make some money and pay some bills or something," Thomas said. "They have a few actors coming in. They've been in Clarksburg pretty much the last week or so. They've also hired some boxing people, both of which are former Toughman champions who are now pro fighters to be in this movie.
"They're going to film before the event at the Convention Center on Friday and Saturday. They're going to shoot one fight scene in the middle of the event. and they're filming again after the event is over. In fact, they put out a call for extras for people who want to be in the movie, of course being in the background, and they got well over a hundred people responding."
The crew will remain in Beckley Sunday and Monday for more filming at the Armory and around Beckley.
One familiar name to appear in the film — Christy Martin, a Mullens native who won three Toughwomen championships before going on to a pro boxing career. She finished with a career record of 49-7-3, 32 of her wins by knockout, and won the vacant WBC super welterweight championship in 2009.
There are five weight classes for both men and women. All Friday winners will move on to Saturday's elimination fights, with all 10 champions being crowned.
"We cannot handle the number of people that want to participate," Thomas said. "We accepted 163 (147 men, 16 women), turned down another hundred."
There will also be a ring girl competition.
Tickets still remain for $25. They can be purchased at the Armory box office or by visiting wvtoughman.com and following the link. Tickets can be printed and brought to the event, or customers can present their receipts on their cell phones to be scanned.
Pay-per-view ordering can also be done on the website. The cost is $30 for two-day access or $20 for one day.
Email: gfauber@register-herald.com; follow on Twitter @gfauber5
