PARKERSBURG — The 41st annual Mid-Ohio Valley Toughman contest is set for Friday and Saturday night inside Memorial Fieldhouse.

Jerry Thomas, the president of West Virginia Sports Promotions, said the VIP tables are sold out, but there are a handful of $30 reserved seats still available along with plenty of $25 general admission tickets.

“There are literally dozens of professional fighters who have started in Toughman,” said Thomas, who had another female fighter register Thursday. “One of the most successful of all-time is Mike Sheppard. I think we’re at 25 females.

“The entry numbers are good. We still have a lot of tickets to sale, but I think people are holding off because of the weather. I think it’s going to be OK. It’s going to be a great show.”

The Toughman fighters, both men and women, are set to compete in five divisions – bantamweight, welterweight, middleweight, cruiserweight and heavyweight.

For the men, the heavyweight division has the largest number of entries with nearly three dozen. The middleweight has nearly 30 registered fighters, cruiserweight has 20-plus, welterweight has more than two dozen while there are expected to be 11 fighters battling it out for top honors at bantamweight.

Thomas said they decided upon a rule change at the start of the year and noted for the first two events at Clarksburg and Beckley that “it’s working out pretty good. They were great. Beckley was even good in spite of the snow.

“Clarksburg was unreal. It was a great show. Of course we had a pro fight on the card, a couple of them actually, and a state title fight on the second night at Clarksburg was pretty good. The rule change we had was one and done.”

The new rule implementation requires any Toughman champion to “move on and do something else, either Golden Gloves, pro boxing or whatever because we were getting guys and girls that would come multiple times and they would end up no matter how hard we tried to keep them apart, they would end up fighting a beginner and it was not pretty,” Thomas said.

“We decided it’s just not fair and safe for the beginners, which is the bulk of the people who enter. Probably three-fourths of the people who enter Toughman over the years are first-timers. That’s what it’s all about for people with little or no experience. Now it’s more of a fun experience and they don’t have to worry about fighting a former champion.”

Thomas added of the one and done format and no previous champions allowed that “I think it’s making it a lot better for the beginners, which is the bulk of the people that are entering this. It’s more entertaining to watch, too. Get the brawlers off the street.”

Overall, this is the 47th year for Toughman and Thomas noted this weekend’s event will be broadcast live for free on wvmetronewstv.com if fight fans are unable to make it in person.

“I never thought about it 40 years ago. I really didn’t,” Thomas replied of being fortunate enough to continually promote the event. “I just had no idea it would be going on this long. After all these years when I think back, it’s like a blur. We had so many events and so many people. We get an average of 1,200 to 1,500 entries a year.

“We just finished the 47th at Clarksburg a few weeks ago. My goal now is to do the 50th anniversary and maybe someone will come along and buy me out or something. My sights are set on doing the 50th anniversary. I want to keep on going as long as I can. It’s a lot of work, but a lot of fun.”

Doors are slated to open at 6 p.m. each night with fights starting an hour later.

“Depending on the weather we may open earlier so people don’t have to wait outside in the cold,” Thomas added.

For more information or to purchase advance tickets visit wvtoughman.com

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com