Thom Loverro: Just hanging on by a thread

By Thom Loverro (Contact)

Originally published 04:45 a.m., September 25, 2008, updated 02:04 a.m., September 25, 2008

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Juan Carlos Robles doesn't need any additional advertisements to convey the message he's a tough guy.

The cruiserweight boxer from Staunton, Va., looks formidable enough with his tattoos and Mohawk.

But if you take a closer look at Robles, you see something that raises tough to a whole new level - a piece of a finger hanging on a necklace.

"It does draw a crowd," Robles said before his fight Friday at the Maryland Sportsplex in Millersville.

Let's take tough, though, and magnify it by a few degrees. The dried, cured piece of finger hanging around Robles neck isn't from someone else. It is his right pinkie - which he cut off himself.

Who would want to fight this guy?

Robles, 30, is a bona fide tough guy without the amputated digit. But cutting off his finger puts him in the Tough (or Crazy) Hall of Fame, ahead of former NFL safety Ronnie Lott, who had the tip of his left pinkie removed following the 1985 season after it was crushed during a tackle.

Lott had a medical procedure. He had doctors and nurses and surgical supplies.

Robles had a chisel and a 15-pound weight.

"I did a good job," Robles said. "It healed perfectly. The doctors were impressed."

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