PROVO -- The Utah County Fight Club and its copycats may be moving from the boxing ring to the legislative arena.
Concerned about liability if someone were injured in the loosely organized bouts, Provo Mayor Lewis K. Billings has asked the City Council to consider an ordinance that would restrict activities of mutual combatants who staged several popular underground fight nights earlier this year."I imagine it would not necessarily prohibit it but would make sure there are reasonable controls to make it as safe as possible," said Provo chief administrative officer Robert Stockwell. "I'm not sure the intent is to outlaw it."
Billings brought up the Fight Club, started by Utah County college students, with staffers in the mayor's office Monday.
Billings requested that a discussion about such mutual combat activities be placed on the City Council's Tuesday night agenda.
The council is not scheduled to take any action on the proposed ordinance but will simply discuss options, Stockwell said.
"We want to protect the taxpayers and see that no one gets hurt," he said.
At least one of the Fight Club events took place at Canyon Glen Park, which is owned by Provo city. Provo officials were concerned that if someone were injured, he or she could sue the city, Stockwell said.
In addition, Fight Club organizers have not made accommodations for parking, restrooms, trash collection and crowd control, he said. Several hundred people have attended the Fight Club events, which regularly caused neighbors to call police on Monday nights during Brigham Young University's winter semester.
Provo's Fight Club was a diluted version of the one depicted in the 1999 Hollywood film starring Brad Pitt. In the Utah County Fight Club, participants wore 16-ounce boxing gloves and sparred in apartments, public parks or warehouses for three 45-second rounds.
Fight Club organizers in April said they were discontinuing the bouts, but another edition was hatched May 5 to perform for a tabloid television crew.
"The potential for liability to the city is significant," Stockwell said. "We all remember what it was like to be 19, but they're not immortal."
On several occasions, police who were called to the Fight Club simply watched or asked participants and observers to leave. No Fight Club participants were arrested, and city officials said lack of a specific ordinance dealing with such activities tied their hands.
The headache for city officials became greater when local high school students copied the Fight Club. A group of teens was discovered Friday night staging bouts under an overpass in northwest Provo, said police Capt. Keith Teuscher.
"The officers just broke it up and sent everybody on their way," Teuscher said.
With an eye toward cleaning up barroom brawls, some cities have adopted ordinances outlawing "consensual altercation," as it is called in legal jargon. But Provo does not have such an ordinance.
Police could have pursued charges under disorderly conduct or disturbing the peace statutes, but they have not chosen to do so.
After the Fight Club attracted news media attention in April, state Sen. Pete Suazo, D-Salt Lake City, suggested the possibility of legislation requiring participants to provide a ringside physician, a certified referee and to wear headgear and a mouthpiece.
State Boxing Commissioner Larry Fullmer initially had opposed such regulation, saying the Fight Club could be just a passing fad. But just before organizers disbanded the group, Fullmer was preparing to send investigators to observe the bouts.
Provo police gave suggestions about what any ordinance should contain, and city attorneys have mulled draft language for an ordinance, Stockwell said. The council is scheduled to discuss the issue at its study meeting, which begins tonight at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 351 W. Center St.
E-mail: carter@desnews.com