Rough-N-Rowdy Brawl says it doesn’t need to be safer despite death

The Rough-N-Rowdy Brawl claims its event is safe despite a recent death.

“You can always make anything safer but what are the tradeoffs?” said Rough-N-Rowdy legal counsel Richard Neely.

Local business owner Willie Pedersen, 34, left his wife and two young children behind when he died on Feb. 22.

Pedersen sustained several hits to the head during his fight on Feb. 4. He exited the ring before he felt ill and walked back to a restricted area where EMTs were called to take him to the hospital. Doctors performed an emergency craniotomy to relieve brain swelling, but he died after being in a coma for more than two weeks.

Competitors went through a pre-fight examination, but Pedersen’s best friend Travis Pritchett previously said the organizers could have paid more attention to contestants after their bouts.

“Maybe possibly have the guys go to a quarantined area with two professional doctors, immediately get evaluated for concussion and make sure they have water and ice and they’re not cramping, they’re breathing good,” he said. “But really after the fight, the fighters were just free to roam, go have a beer if they wanted to.”

Neely said it was within the purview of the Rough-N-Rowdy Brawl to hold fighters for a longer period of time after the fight, but that it would be hard to convince contestants to follow the procedure.

“You’re dealing with a bunch of amateurs,” Neely said. “They came there to have fun, and they don’t want to go through a lot of bureaucratic drill.”

Myrtle Beach-area attorney William Monckton represents Pedersen’s family and said they are looking into legal options.

“Obviously William (Pedersen) just passed and we are starting an investigation,” Monckton said. “I really don’t have enough to give you yet. It’s been extremely delicate.”

The fights are regulated by the South Carolina Athletic Commission, and Neely said that event promoter Chris Smith has never had a serious injury or death in 21 years of event promoting.

“He far exceeded all of the requirements of the S.C. Athletic Commission,” Neely said. “He had two doctors at this event and not just one.”

Neely said that doctors monitored fighters as they exited the ring after fights.

“Whenever the fighter comes out of the ring, the doctor goes up and looks at him,” he said. “And what he looks for is any apparent lack of balance, for instance how is the guy’s gait? The doctor looks in eyes to see if there are symptoms of neurological deficit. The doctor looks at the fighter as he descends the stairs and walks away for any obvious deficit.

“If the fighter looks at all as if he’s been injured or his eyes are glassy or his gait isn’t perfect, the doctor will come up and examine him further,” Neely said. “If there’s anything that looks like a concussion or some related neurological problem, the doctor will then take him back to the back and lie him down and do further examination.”

Doctors can’t do a “Cleveland Clinic-style physical examination” without ringside equipment, Neely said.

“The doctor has a standard protocol,” he said. “He would do the same thing if it were Mohammed Ali fighting some other big-time fighter out in Las Vegas.”

The Sun News sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the South Carolina Athletic Commission on Friday for documents related to the event but has not yet received any of the documents.

This story was originally published March 1, 2017 at 6:22 PM with the headline "Rough-N-Rowdy Brawl says it doesn’t need to be safer despite death."