whenever i watch fights i can't help but watch the refs also! i find their jobs interesting! well, i know this is not an easy job but sometimes these refs may or may not do their job well! an uncalled low blow, an unpenalized head butt.. name it these refs can blow a fight out of proportion! i have high respect for this referee Mills Lane (is he still alive?) i have never heard any controversy about the fights he officiated! what's your say about referees?

mills lane was a good ref although i beleive he was the one that pushed hopkins out of the ring and injured him in the second allen fight. obviously he did'nt do it on purpose but refs dont need to be making a royal rumble in there. :D

I like Steve Smoger, he always impresses me and seems very fair to both fighters. I must say i always keep an eye on the referee through fights, some referees you don't hardly notice like the guy who did the Hopkins-Oscar fight.

MITCH HALPERN was the best , you could see the fighters had mad respect for him and i cant remember him in a bad refering.

up and comer ian john lewis :cool:

When I watch fights my eyes are glued on the fighters because I have been practising scoring and comparing it to the judges scorecards after the fights so I completely take the ref of my mind but then after watching so many fights . . . i come to get familiar with Richard Steele whom I come to like . . . I'm not sure if he is still active at present and I'm not also saying that he is the best.

Tony Weeks is the man that I've always been impressed with. The fighters respect him and he has this stay above reproach way about him in there. He should be given more important high profile fights.

Steve Smoger I like the best.
Kenny Bayless is good.
Tony Weeks got better the more important assignments he got.

I think Smoger did a good job in the Trinidad/Mayo fight by not stopping it in the fifth when Mayo was getting pummeled. He was just about to jump in there right when Mayo finally threw a punch.

Who i think is a ****ty ref and I wouldn't want my fighter in the ring with is that guy who did the Toney/Booker fight. That guy let Booker take such a brutal beating it borderlined on cruelity IMO. That fight should have been stopped a couple times.

Lane and weeks - no questions asked

Joe Cortez - "I'm firm but fair"

Kenny Bayless is the best, had Mills Lane not had the personality he would have been considered ****, Mills is not much different from Jay Nady.

MITCH HALPERN was the best , you could see the fighters had mad respect for him and i cant remember him in a bad refering.
You should pop in a tape of Rosendo Alvarez's first fight with Bebis Mendoza.

The worst officiating I'd seen up until that point. He was wors than that Texas ref was toward Zahir Raheem when he fought Rocky Juarez.

Plus, TWO fighters have died in the ring under Halpern's watch during his short tenure as an official. Halpern was extremely overrated.

i have high respect for this referee Mills Lane (is he still alive?) i have never heard any controversy about the fights he officiated!

They all foul up occasionally..they're only human.
Mills screwed the pooch in the Tyson/Holyfield ear munching controversy. Mike WAS getting killed with head-butts, complained and although EVERYBODY knows that this is 'Vander's M.O., Lane did nothing.
He was pretty consistantly good over the whole of his career though.

Kenny Bayless is the best, had Mills Lane not had the personality he would have been considered ****, Mills is not much different from Jay Nady.
Exaxtly.

Mills was a personality.

Bayless is awesome. You forget the guy was even in the ring. That Vegas doesn't give him more big assigments is shameful.

exactly slick willy exactly

Arthur Mercante.

Jay Nady, oh wait, you want to know who the most competent referee is...

Arthur Mercante.
Overrated. Hes' known for doing the first Ali -Frazier fight

that's why he was popular. What has he ever done? He interferred in fights way too mcuh for my liking. Telling fighters to stop trash talking. That's none of his business. trash talk is not a foul. He put himself in fights too much.

I hope you're not talking about his son Arthur Jr. He allowed Bee Scotland to take a beating that killed him that even Kellerman was bright enough to see should've been stopped and he allowed Michael Bennett to knock a guy out in his pro debut with his head caught between the ropes when he was clearly already knocked out.

The son is worse than the father. Popularity or being well known doesnt make them good

Kenny Bayless is VERY, VERY, VERY underrated. He must not do a good job of sucking up because he doesn't get NEARLY the amount of big fights he deserves. A complete professional.

Richard Steele gets more **** from people than he deserves, simply because his two biggest screwups were in huge fights. I really only count the Tyson-Ruddock I fight as a screwup. I did (and still do) disagree wholeheartedly about the Taylor stoppage, but as the years have passed I've grown to respect Richard for sticking to his guns about his decision. While his timing in that fight was far from perfect, his intent was indeed perfect. Meldrick had taken a horrible beating in that fight, and the ref's #1 priority is fighter safety.

Steve Smoger is a decent ref, but damn that ****er is weird. He just annoys the hell out of me, that Dabney Coleman-looking mother****er. He's always yapping to the fighters "Good job in there baby! Good job!".."You're up baby. you're up. You made the count baby.."
After the Tyson - Neilsen fight was stopped , Smoger took Neilsen's head in his hands and started talking about, "I love you , baby. I love you..." What the hell is that???

Carlos Padilla did a good job in the Thrilla. Did a good job in his other title fights as well, except he got banned because of I don't what in the early 90's.

Carlos Padilla did a good job in the Thrilla. Did a good job in his other title fights as well, except he got banned because of I don't what in the early 90's.

yes he got famous for the thrilla in manila and soon became richer because he got recognized! but referees fade and so is carlos padilla. when referees get older they lose their popularity because they lose their agility, focus, and accuracy (their eyes should be their main weapon in calling the shots). i think after the manny pacquiao-nedal hussein fight, padilla never officiate again, it was his last i think! the reason may be attributed to him not doing his best because he really messed up during that fight!

Arthur Mercante Sr...

The question was: Who is the finest ref you've ever seen?

Without doubt, it was Stan Christodoulou. IMO, the finest ref to ever officiate in the fight game!

FROM childhood brawls in the streets of Brixton to the International Boxing Hall of Fame – famed South African boxing referee Stan Christodoulou, 63, has come a long way since taking charge of his first fight nearly 40 years ago.

He is the first South African to be chosen by boxing historians and journalists to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

The ceremony takes place in New York in June.

Christodoulou’s first world title fight was in 1973 and he was the third man in the ring more than 100 times since then. He was the first to have handled title fights in all 17 weight divisions.

I like Kenny Bayless. He's fair and knows when to let fighters fight and when to step in. I agree that he seemed almost invisible in the DLH Hopkins fight. He should see more action.