Jorge De Leon and his prosthetic leg
Posted: Mon May 3, 2010 2:41 pm
Not going down without a fight on his prosthetic leg
Last fall, Jorge De Leon, who wears a prosthesis on his lower right leg, entered a ring surrounded by chain-link fence on the Fort Sam Houston army post in San Antonio. Sporting thick, flesh-colored padding on his artificial limb, he proceeded to get pummeled.
The cage fight, put on by the Texas Amateur Mixed Martial Arts Association, was over in about a minute.
"The guy's reach was incredible," De Leon recalled admiringly. "He kneed me in the ribs. That hurt. Then he knocked me out with a punch. It was great."
"He got a black eye," confirmed Chip Thornsburg, who as president of the association promoted the fight. "He looked cool."
The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation didn't think so. Two weeks after the fight, it filed an official complaint against the association. A month later, it cited Thornsburg for violating the Combative Sports Law and proposed a $5,500 fine.
The official crime was that De Leon had broken a rule prohibiting fighters from wearing "metal, straps, buckles, necklaces, jewelry or other objects (including piercings) that may cause injury to either fighter." "The leg would fall under 'other object,' " explained Susan Stanford, a spokeswoman for the agency.
But the real issue, she added, was safety — not just for an opponent who might get kicked by De Leon's titanium and plastic leg, but for De Leon himself.