Referees who are as interesting as the fighters - Share your stories!

One of the threads you'll see once every other presidential election or so is one really discussing the referees of boxing, interesting and varied the characters that make up those ranks are.

Does anyone remember Puerto Rican referee Waldemar Schmidt? He refereed, on and off, from the late 60's to the year 2003! Only worked on 74 bouts in that entire time span, but he sure was a part of many an important fight.

Seemed to be an old school type. One of his modern jobs, a young Felix Trinidad defending his newly gained first world title for the second time against Luis Garcia, drew the ire of ringside commentator Ferdie Pacheco, who lambasted Schmidt giving a very badly hurt Garcia four separate counts in the first round before waving off the contest. Maybe not something the more modern sensibilities of Pacheco might agree with, but he came from a time when they really gave you a chance in title fights.

Looking through his bout history, I see that he was the ref for the supposedly (I've never gotten around to watching it) ultra brutal Roberto Duran vs Lou Bizzarro match.

And Salvador Sanchez against Danny Lopez I, one of the most brutal title fights I've ever seen. Lopez took a dreadful, prolonged beating in that one and had cuts over both his eyes and on his nose, with a nosebleed and bad swelling to one of his eyes from the early rounds on.

He also reffed the second Yaqui Lopez/Matthew Saad Muhammed fight, which was another unbelievably brutal war. It ended up being fight of the year for 1980.

Was he a sadist, or just a "lenient" referee? Anyone have any recollections or stories regarding him, or any other referee stories that are worth sharing? Love to hear em'.

 

There's a good shot of the man himself in the beginning of this video, which is only a one round fight. Give it a watch and tell me what kind of ref he strikes you as....

This content is protected

 

Ever see Izon vs Jefferson, BU? One of the most sided and brutal heavyweight fights I've seen seen. Izon just languishes around being seriously beat on for several rounds. Not a fun watch.

 

When I think of referee performances from Smoger that I have an issue with, really only Tapia against Kirkland was a bit excessive for my taste. He also flaked letting Lebedev get those final finishing shots in against a prone and helpless Roy Jones.

Rosado, well, is known for his ability to take a shot despite that paper thin skin and made a lot of money after the GGG fight, because of the image of himself that he sold that night... a blood and guts warrior who refused to give up despite being seriously out matched. A real, honest journeyman.

Smoger basically let him be the fighter he wanted to be, to display that heart in spades and he was rewarded with it after that bad loss, with offers to fight a who's who of modern fighting talent all over the world.

 

What made him so interesting, and what would be a good demonstration of his brutal honesty? I want to get to know these men!

 

Man, imagine someone somehow being fair enough to satisfy both sides of a rowdy UK crowd? Even in 85 when Curry beat Colin Jones they were winging bottles in the ring and had to plead with the crowd to calm down. Guy must have been like a soothe saying prophet or something.

 

I had no idea. Pretty bizarre!