Mother dies after boxing match

A mother of two has died in Florida after being pummelled in an amateur boxing match, and police opened an investigation into the fight.

The contest was part of a Toughman match-up, a decades-old fight circuit that lets untrained boxers compete for cash prizes and trophies.

“We are trying to determine the criminality of it,” police spokesman Jay Frank said.

Stacy Young, 30, was declared brain dead and was disconnected from life support yesterday. Her daughters were 12 and nine.

Chuck Young said his wife jumped in the ring at the Sarasota County fairgrounds after learning the only woman who signed up needed an opponent.

“It’s supposed to be fun,” he said. “They tell us nobody’s going to get hurt. The worst that could happen was to get a broken nose.”

The Toughman contest was started by promoter Art Dore in Michigan in 1979.

At least three competitors have died in the last nine months, and as many as nine in the circuit’s 24 year history, the New York Daily News said.

Several states have banned Toughman contests, but Dore has said the fights will go on.