Hey diddle diddle, the man in the middle by Tom Walker Apr 11th 2007

The Joe Calzaghe title fight highlighted the importance of the third man in the ring; the referee. Terry O'Connor has been subjected to all sorts of criticism over his stoppage of Peter Manfredo in what was after all a 'world title' bout. Having refereed almost 600 amateur bouts myself it led me to thinking that the role of the third man in the ring is often overlooked until it goes wrong. Being overlooked is in many respects a good thing, as it should mean that the bout is flowing and you're not interfering with the main men, the boxers. Over the years, the British have been blessed with referees who were content to be overlooked and not seeking to put themselves above the boxers. Mickey Vann, Dave Parris, Paul Thomas, John Coyle, Richie Davies, John Keane and Victor Loughlin to name just some of the stalwarts who travel all over to oversee the men we pay to watch, the boxers. Hovering over all of these men was the shadow of what was probably Britain's most famous referee, the redoubtable Harry Gibbs. Gibbs' record of officiating in boxing reads like a who's who of the sweet science: Ali, Hearns, Hagler, Leonard, Lewis, Camacho, Cesar Chavez, Whittaker, Tyson, Azumah Nelson, Duran, Cooper, Monzon, Stracey, Frazier, Bugner, Finnegan, McGuigan and McCrory, the list just goes on and on. A couple of strange choices for the role of boxing referee in the United States of America were: Wyatt Earp – He of “Gunfight at the OK Corral”. He was actually found with his gun in his trousers, whilst officiating, so who was going to argue with his credentials? Ernest Hemingway – The famous author, with “The Old man and the Sea” and his essential book on bullfighting “Death in the Afternoon”, he was the epitome of the macho man. (By the by, Hemingway's self-created macho image doesn't really stand up to much scrutiny...but that's another tale - Ed.) There were numerous former champions who went on to referee when finished as a boxer, I did myself, it's just that I was crap as a boxer who lost many more than I won. The real dilemma for me is when the referee is supposed to judge as well as referee, I genuinely don't think you can do both fairly, and am glad to see Commonwealth championships now having three judges with so much at stake. Did Terry get it wrong on Calzaghe? Possibly. Did Mickey Vann get it wrong with rejecting the towel in the Graham Earl and Katsidis bout? Maybe. The fact is that the referee, unless he's being overlooked by the punters, is on a hiding to nothing as it is subjective and the wrong decision can have catastrophic consequences in the professional ranks.

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