LAS VEGAS – Jack Reiss hadn’t seen Tyson Fury for a few years, since the time he peered deep into the fallen former heavyweight champion’s eyes and counted, “4, 5, 6, 7 … .”

Fury, of course, responded to those numbers heroically, rising remarkably from the Staples Center canvas that December 1, 2018, evening to preserve a draw against then-WBC champion Deontay Wilder.

That outcome, presided over by California State Athletic Association referee Reiss, meant a goldmine for both Wilder and Fury, who each earned six- and eight times ($25 million plus) in the subsequent rematch and trilogy bouts that followed the first fight that transfixed the mainstream U.S. sports fan to boxing and the heavyweight division for the first time in more than a decade.

But to prove how thankless the work of the third man in the ring is, Reiss was treated to an R-rated post-fight critique from those in the crowd supporting Wilder, accusing the referee of granting the wounded Fury a slow count.

And on the occasion of reuniting with Fury, the now two-time heavyweight champion only briefly slowed to meet a “Hey, Tyson,” greeting from Reiss at an outdoor fight near Los Angeles.

Without saying a word, Fury slightly grinned and nodded to Reiss and went on with his night.

With Reiss, famed former UFC referee “Big” John McCarthy and bareknuckle fighting expert Sean Wheelock hosting the Combat Sports Officials Summit at the Orleans Hotel here, Reiss paused Thursday to recall the most memorable, defining bout of his distinguished career.

For those who’ve forgotten some of the details of the epic Wilder-Fury I, it came amid Wilder’s five-year reign as champion and during Fury’s rugged comeback from the throes of depression and the abuse of alcohol, drugs and food.

After two nondescript comeback bouts earlier that year, Fury put on a sharp boxing exhibition versus the hammer-swinging Wilder, who earlier knocked down Fury in the ninth round.

Leading on the scorecards heading into the 12th round, Fury was caught with a hellacious power punch to the head, falling again.

Reiss recalls pointing the celebrating Wilder to the neutral corner, looking to the timekeeper to pick up his count for what Wilder clearly believed was going to be a knockout while shuffling and making a throat-slashing gesture in celebration.

Reiss saw something different.

Well aware that Fury hadn’t otherwise taken on too much punishment before the 12th, he saw how Fury braced his knockdown fall by extending his left elbow and shoulder out, then raised his right leg upward to prove he was quickly recovering.

“Me and the three judges are the ones watching everything [Fury] is doing … [writers] are typing, commentators are thinking about the next smart thing they can say, the fans are drinking and the commission guys are on their phones,” Reiss said.

“I was tracking the whole thing. [Fury] got hit clean with two shots, and I had watched the mechanism of injury – the [Wilder] left [hand] followed by the right, and I watched his body language as he fell. Everyone said he fell straight back without him bracing, his head getting whacked by the canvas.

“But I watched [Fury]. He went down on his side, broke his fall, laid on his back briefly, like, ‘Holy … ,’ and then he took his time getting up instead of getting up too quick and having his legs stumbling and all that.”

Reiss said he witnessed the 6-feet-9, nearly 260-pound Fury open his eyes and track the referee as the count continued.

“He was regaining his composure, looking straight up as I came in from the side, and as soon as I got near him, I could see his eyes on me and I yelled, ‘Four, five, six!’ to see what the guy can do. At six, the guy’s eyes widened to look right at me and he rolled over and got up.”

Reiss ultimately watched Fury rise before the knockout 10-count, and put him through a standard walking routine to ensure there was no obvious brain trauma and let the fight proceed, as Fury weathered the final Wilder attack and left L.A. with a draw that left fight fans begging for more.

“In older times, if a referee had said [to Fury], ‘I’ve seen enough,’ it’d be all over, with social media questioning everything. But we need to follow what the ringside physicians are asking us, to have [head-knockout fighters] walk to the right or left [before the fight resumes] to ensure the [brain lobes] are communicating with other, because we know a concussion is a disturbance of the electrical pulses in the brain.”

Reiss knows that most knockouts are caused by uppercuts and hooks.

“Where we lose fighters is when they get hit to the side of the head by a hook or uppercut, when the four [brain] lobes go in different directions and the connective tissue holding the lobes together gets stretched or tears, and the electrical impulses don’t get through anymore,” Reiss said.

Fury wasn’t that dire, as his movements showed, and as Reiss will tell his subjects at Friday’s boxing portion of the seminar: The existing effort is to protect the future of the fighter.

Reiss’ methods in such a case of knockout by head blow are now etched into the Association of Boxing Commissions’ referee manual as proper procedure.

As Reiss will also tell officials Friday, rules are guidelines to be considered along with common sense, fairness and fighter health also being weighed.

“Lots of guys do it now – the technique of having [wounded fighters] walk to the left or right is for concussive blows. We’re seeing it so often, some [referees] are doing it on body shots, getting hit in the stomach,” Reiss said. “I’ll remind them this is only to test your brain function.”

Reiss didn’t work the final two Fury-Wilder fights. Fury dominated the rematch and each guy was dropped multiple times in the 2021 trilogy fight that was honored as fight of the year.

This week, Fury, 37, announced he was coming back from a year-long retirement, saying, “I love to fight. I have zero other interests. Only fighting. My destiny lies within the fight game. At the end of it all, I’ll be punchier than a mother fucker, probably end up in a wheelchair, punched to death, don’t know if it’s Tuesday, Wednesday or December, but this is the life I chose. We ain’t stopping. We ain’t … leaving.”

Fury is expected to take a comeback fight and then possibly meet rival and U.K. countryman and fellow two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua later this year.

Wilder, at 40, is expected to get a spring title shot at three-belt champion Oleksandr Usyk.

As for Reiss, he retired from refereeing last year, perhaps setting the stage for a reunion in years to come with Fury and Wilder at their International Boxing Hall of Fame inductions.

And what a story they’ll each have to tell regarding their version of events on December 1, 2018.