Best referees

One of the best, and I liked when they showed him go into the locker rooms before the fight and tell the fighters the rules on what he expects. He was no nonsense.

 

But ultimately Holyfield/TysonII, one of Lane's biggest fights, showed otherwise. A so called 'no nonsense referee' let a fighter get away with biting another. He let the nonsense happen, and then it happened again, before he finally did the right thing.

He was also too showy; he was meant to be the ref, the stars are the boxers not the officials.

As an official he was solid, as good as most, but the showmanship aside, he did not stand out.

 

This is a good post. Yeah he was a little showy with the "lets get it on" stuff. With Tyson/Holyfield. I think it was such a big fight he didn't know what to do. A lot of money was on that fight, and that should not be a factor. Steele in the Taylor Chavez fight didn't care about the money or magnitude, so maybe Lane shouldn't have. No one could believe it. Tyson wanted out of that fight probably. The first bite he almost got away with, but the second one on the other ear was almost like, you didn't DQ me, then this will do it.

 

Maybe it's really hard to be a good referee in boxing. There sure as heck has not been many of them.

I'd vote for Mills Lane. He knew the rules, wasn't afraid to enforce them when needed and commanded the fighters respect. To be a good referee in boxing, I think you need to be very good at the above three ingredients.

 

I once dated a woman who wasn't at all a boxing fan. She pretty much didn't know anything about boxing. But she tolerated watching the Lennox Lewis - Tommy Morrison fight with me. At the beginning of the fight she exclaimed, "Oh my God! That's Mills!" She had worked with him in his office in Nevada when he was a district attorney. She spoke very highly of him.

 

This is my reasoning on why I will always consider Carlos Padilla a woefully inept referee. In almost every instance confusion reigns.

1) Danny Lopez-Mike Ayala - you gotta see this to believe it. Padilla counts out Ayala in the 11th, the ring floods with people and then suddenly Padilla consults with the timekeeper and - amid mass confusion - restarts the fight until Lopez stops it for good in the 15th.

2) Ray Leonard-Wilfredo Benitez - a close fight and in the waning stages of the 15th Leonard drops Benitez. Wilfredo gets up and with seconds left Leonard throws 3 punches at Benitez, who ducks all 3 and Padilla stops the fight.

3) Antuofermo-Minter I - Padilla will not allow Antuofermo an inside fight with Minter, constantly breaks them when Vito gets close and cost Vito the title (although I felt Vito still did enough to win). Yet, 3 months later, he allows Roberto Duran an inside fight with Ray Leonard and takes Ray's title.

4) Camacho-Haugen I - the pivotal final round and Padilla requests a touch of gloves. Camacho stands there with his arm extended and Haugen refuses to touch up despite Padilla pleading. Finally - amid mass confusion - having enough of it, Camacho starts the round and starts throwing punches while Padilla laughingly penalizes Camacho, which cost him the fight and his title by a point. The only saving grace was that Haugen tested positive for drugs or something and it was called a ND.

5) Gaby Canizales-Richie Sandoval - this was not so much pivotal on a career but almost on Sandoval's life. A complete contrast to the Leonard-Benitez stoppage.

I am also stuck with that image of Steve Smoger during the Lance Whitaker - Lou Savarese fight during the 4th round. Whitaker drops Lou and when Smoger gets to about '8', you can hear him audibly coaxing Lou up, which Lou does. And he wnt on to win the decision over Whitaker. Nothing like a ref being impartial.