We hear so much of great fighters all the time, and rightly so. But I've got two questions, who do you think is the best referee at the present time, and who is the greatest of all time?
I'll let you give your two cents, but my favourite at this time is Stevie Smoger, and I'll give Mills Lane the title of best of all time!
Right now I would go with Smoger. He lets the guys fight, and when he is the third man and the fight ends up inside the distance, there is no question that it was a legitimate ending. He is the best at knowing when a guy has nothing left.
You will notice when he is in there and a guy gets hurt early in a fight, he will throw them a lot of breaks. When a fighter is tired and gets hurt, he watches them much more closely and watches their eyes and body language.
He also loves it when he is in the middle of a good scrap with little clinching. he will even tell the guys fighting how much he is loving it.
My vote is for Steve Smoger he did good in Cotto vs Marg 2 and Ward vs Dawson I admit he ain't perfect but is way better then all or most of the other referee's....
Young posters, please find out who Arthur Mercante Sr was before you answer this post. He is the obvious answer, and it's not debateble
Mercante was a great ref, I agree.. Very close between him and Mills. I think I picked Mills more so for his personality!
One of my all time favourite fights was Wilfredo Gomez vs Lupe Pintor though that Mercante done! Jr. Is a real let down for me, and maybe a factor in me choosing Lane
cant stand bayless hes too involved, tony weeks is my fav right now not sure about all time, maybe Earl Hebner
Lol, as this is a boxing website, I'm sure it was implied that I meant a boxing referee!!
this man gets my vote:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-18MimwGQVMQ/T__f9iJPGHI/AAAAAAAAKz4/-OvEXeQs-aQ/s320/mickey+vann.jpg
favorite ref job was when he ignored the corner's towel in the katsidis graham fight.
Thats Mickey Vann another all time favourite of mine
Hands down and its not even close
Nick Patrick
http://homepage1.nifty.com/NWO/NICK.jpg
Looks like Danny mcbride
http://www.topnews.in/files/images/Danny-McBride_3.jpg
the greatest referee is a filipino...
http://i.cdn.turner.com/sivault/multimedia/photo_gallery/0906/this.day.sports.history.june15/images/hearns-duran.jpghttp://kapisanan.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/icb9221.jpghttp://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/images/sports/year_in_sports/photos/11.25.jpg
He was also the referee of Sanchez vs Gomez http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/2520/zcortardq0.jpg
this man gets my vote:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-18MimwGQVMQ/T__f9iJPGHI/AAAAAAAAKz4/-OvEXeQs-aQ/s320/mickey+vann.jpg
favorite ref job was when he ignored the corner's towel in the katsidis graham fight.
I'd have to go with the ref from the Berto/Guerrero fight. I mean f**k, the guy was so mesmerized by Ghost dropping the hammer on Berto at the end of the 12th that he forgot he was a motherf**king ref and allowed RG to hit on AB for another 7 full seconds after the bell.
You just can't beat that.
My favorite right now is Smoger and no one comes close, he leaves the work to the fighters. I remember how one time Ward got Froch into the ropes, Froch looked at Smoger as if to say "Man get me out of here", Smoger's look was all like "That's your fight buddy!". Those are the kind of refs we need. Just recently Kendal Holt was doing some holding against Peterson, every time Peterson attempted to/ or was about to untangle himself to go to work the ref would separate them, like PLEASE allow the fighters to fight off the clinch.
the greatest referee is a filipino...
http://i.cdn.turner.com/sivault/multimedia/photo_gallery/0906/this.day.sports.history.june15/images/hearns-duran.jpghttp://kapisanan.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/icb9221.jpghttp://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/images/sports/year_in_sports/photos/11.25.jpg
the greatest referee is a filipino...
http://i.cdn.turner.com/sivault/multimedia/photo_gallery/0906/this.day.sports.history.june15/images/hearns-duran.jpghttp://kapisanan.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/icb9221.jpghttp://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/images/sports/year_in_sports/photos/11.25.jpg