Best referee ever ???

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by Star333, Nov 17, 2020.


  1. TBooze

    TBooze Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    Yes, his biggest fight Tyson/HolyfieldII!!!
     
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  2. greynotsoold

    greynotsoold Boxing Addict

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    Dr James Jen Kin or Gwen Adair.
     
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  3. scartissue

    scartissue Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    The one thing that always sticks in my craw about Smoger is the Lou Savarese v Lance Whitaker affair. I think it was the 4th round where Whitaker dropped Savarese and Smoger takes up the count. But after the count of '8' you can audibly hear him coaxing Savarese up, something an impartial official has no business doing. And Savarese went on to win the decision. I feel a ref has the right to coax a fight out of two fighters stalling, but in the case of a knockdown - a turning event in a fight - he has no business interfering. I feel something like this is akin to the ref helping one fighter up from the double knockdown of the Wolgast v Rivers fight or a ref interrupting momentum like Tony Perez did in Ali-Frazier II and Chandler-Canizales.
     
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  4. Mendoza

    Mendoza Hrgovic = Next Heavyweight champion of the world. banned Full Member

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    Boxing doesn't have too many of them. Mills Lane to me was very good.

    A top ten not only has to enforce the rules, he needs to command respect from the fighters too, and for the fans, stay out of the way during the action. Finally he needs to know when to stop a fight.
     
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  5. Mendoza

    Mendoza Hrgovic = Next Heavyweight champion of the world. banned Full Member

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    Well Tyson vs Holy 2 was a mega event. Lane quickly took two points from Tyson. When Tyson claimed it was from a punch, Lane called BS , and DQ'd Tyson. Controlling a wild Mike Tyson is no easy task.

    These were odd events, I think Lane did a good job with it.
     
  6. Richard M Murrieta

    Richard M Murrieta Now Deceased 2/4/25 Full Member

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    Arthur Mercante Sr, and Harry Gibbs.
     
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  7. TBooze

    TBooze Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    They were odd events, but Lane did not react well. He did not control events, he let events control him. He looked confused and bemused as he finally made the right call, a bite and part of an ear too late.
     
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  8. Richard M Murrieta

    Richard M Murrieta Now Deceased 2/4/25 Full Member

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    Mike was all ears that night. Lol.
     
  9. sasto

    sasto Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Mills Lane is like an actor playing a ref, and he's the star of the movie. I haven't reviewed his whole career but I've noticed him breaking up promising infighting a few times.

    It's so much easier to criticize here. I'm trying to think if Frank Cappuccino did anything objectionable or Pat Russell.
     
  10. channy

    channy 4.7.33 banned Full Member

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    Stan Christodolou deserves a shout, hope i spelt it correctly.
     
  11. Pepsi Dioxide

    Pepsi Dioxide Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    I thought cappuccino let gatt ward 1 go on a little too long when (9th round i think) gatti couldnt even hold his hands up and was taking shots
     
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  12. Reinhardt

    Reinhardt Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    A good ref doesn't draw that much attention like a bad one:
    Mercante
    I liked Carlos Padilla in the Manilla fight,
    Mills Lane
    Christodolou was a good shout out.
    Smoger
     
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  13. sasto

    sasto Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Yeah before round 10 when both corners thought it was stopped, both corner's also could be questioned on their decisions.

    What I like about it was he was decisive. He decided to preside over a war so he made it the best war he could. The fighters took massive damage but got big paydays way past their prime on the other side with the remainder of the trilogy.

    If the fight had been paused every round for the doctor to look at Ward's cut, if the memorable corner moments had been interrupted by the ref coming to explain why he can't let it go on much longer, there would have been similar damage but far less fame and fortune.

    Jack Reiss is good at many aspects but I think the amount of this sort of thing he does is counterproductive. It just lets the fighter recover enough to take more damage. If he isn't sure the fighter is ready, then call it. The fans of the winner will be happy, the loser will have an excuse, and everyone else will quickly forget about an early TKO.
     
  14. Johnny_B

    Johnny_B Well-Known Member banned Full Member

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    He was completely incompetent in the Ali-Liston rematch.
     
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  15. Johnny_B

    Johnny_B Well-Known Member banned Full Member

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    He handled that pretty good. You just can't disqualify the biggest star in boxing as easily as you think.