Your favourite referee

Controversial pick: Richard Steele.

If the ref is there to protect the fighters, he's my guy. You knew he had the fighter's health as Priority Number 1.

Tyson-Ruddock, for example. Was the rematch really necessary to determine who was better? Razor suffered the consequences, really for very little.

I love Steele's words, here paraphrased:

"When I see a man's had enough, getting banged, banged, banged, I'm stopping the fight I don't care how much time is left."

"I stopped the fight because Ruddock could no longer defend himself. People don't understand boxing. They have to see something drastic, or death."

"YOU OK?! YOU OK?!"

If Howard Cosell would only let Dundee train his son, I'd want Steele in there as ref for my own son.

Finally, Steele had as much charisma as any other ref you may mention.

 

His officiating in Hagler-Hearns was fantastic.

Think I might go with Tony Weeks, who rarely screws up and rarely makes himself the center of attention.

In the recent past, Mitch Halpern was about as good as it got.

 

I'm very fond of Tony Weeks. He's a class act, one of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet. On top of that, he's one of the three best refs out there today, along with Kenny Bayless and Steve Smoger.

 

Mills Lane is the man, how many refs would of handled the bite fight like he did. He wasn't at all intimidated he went up to tyson and said "BULL****" when Tyson tried saying it was from a punch. He witnessed an obviously mentally unstable Tyson bite Holyfield twice and still laid down the law. He was going to disqualify him after the first one but Marc Ratner the commissioner I think convinced him otherwise with how much money/hype there was to this fight.

 

My feeling as well. Mills Lane was a good one.

 

He blew the biggest call of his career. Tyson bit Holyfield's ear and Lane did nothing. It was only when Tyson had a second go, taking a chunk out of Evander's ear, that eventually Lane decided to do something...

The referee should go about unnoticed if possible, trying to make the fighters the stars, and the fans the winners. Lane had too much ego to do that.

 

Arthur Donovan refereed fourteen heavyweight championship fights from 1933 to 1946. The son of Professor Mike Donovan, the noted American middleweight champion and boxing instructor, Donovan grew up around boxers, and Gentleman Jim Corbett befriended the youngster when he came for a visit. Against his father's wishes, Donovan boxed professionally for a time, under an assumed name. - From the International Boxing Hall of Fame

 

George Siler was a pretty progressive guy for his day when you read his opinions.

He also refereed some major all-time greats... Nelson, Gans, Jeffries, Attell, Dixon, McGovern, Jeffries, Sharkey...

 

Richard Steele