Iowa City Council gives TKO (temporary knockout) to 2007 ordinance barring amateur boxing in bars

cigaretteman · Feb 9, 2023

Iowa City Council gives TKO (temporary knockout) to 2007 ordinance barring amateur boxing in bars

George Shillcock
Iowa City Press-Citizen

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A move by Iowa City Council will let a local hotel step into the ring by allowing it to host official USA Boxing-sanctioned events when Iowa Golden Gloves holds a tournament in the city this spring.
The council voted unanimously to grant an exception to a 2007 ordinance that banned amateur boxing in businesses with a liquor license. The move comes nearly 15 years after City Council enacted the ordinance following a "Fight Night" event at the then-popular bar The Union.
Clif Johnson, co-owner and operator of ICOR Boxing on Highland Avenue, approached the city to ask for the change as he sought to help bring the Golden Gloves Championship Tournament to Iowa City in April. The ordinance presented a roadblock since the venue, The Graduate Hotel, holds a liquor license.
Johnson, who is also a member of the Iowa City Truth and Reconciliation Commission, has been vice president of the Golden Gloves Association of Iowa since last year. He told the Press-Citizen on Wednesday it means the world to him that this event is coming to Iowa City and said he appreciated City Council revisiting the ordinance.

"I've always wanted the Golden Gloves here in Iowa City. Years ago we won the team Golden Gloves at ICOR and that was such a great event that back then I could see Iowa City being another location to bring such a great event for amateur boxing," he said.
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Council member Pauline Taylor said she could see how a truly amateur boxing match, without proper regulations, could get "out of hand."
"We certainly don't want that," she said,
Taylor complimented Johnson on his efforts helping young men in Iowa City through ICOR and other outreach.

City Attorney Eric Goers explained to council when it held its first vote on the issue two weeks ago that the city had adopted the ban on amateur boxing in drinking establishments after Press-Citizen stories in 2007 on a "Fight Night" organized at The Union, a bar on East College Street that closed in 2020.

The Press-Citizen reported that the event drew crowds of up to 500 people for what it described as a night of "sticks and moves, jabs, round-houses, uppercuts and scantily clad ring girls." A certified nurse and a referee were on hand and police monitored the fights, though they never made any arrests connected to the event.

But the Press-Citizen observed that while most of the fights were fairly matched and most of the participants appeared sober, at least two fighters were visibly drunk and several matches pitted trained fighters against untrained opponents.

It later reported that City Council "knock[ed] out" Fight Night at The Union at the behest of the Iowa City Alcohol Advisory Board.

"Testosterone and alcohol don't always mix so well," late council member Connie Champion was quoted as saying.

Goers said he does not think the city at the time intended to ban Golden Gloves events or any other highly sanctioned or regulated boxing events.