I just wanted to know what ref you liked and what ref has stunk up a match. I think of Richard Steele in the Chavez/Taylor I fight; Carr/Delahoya fight; Mercante in the Judah/Kosta as being atrocious refs. Cortes is ok and Weeks is ok. Mills Lanes is awesome. Any refs that made you want to shoot your TV or just say way to go ref, please list here.

I fuckin hate the ref that did Cotto-Judah ...he always shouts at the fighters.

hhmmm

Mercante Jr. He is the classic Ref who thinks it's his time in the limelight not the fighters. He shouts to get attention and because he has no real assertiveness so he has to scream to make up for it.

Usually every Ref who has a stupid gimmick phrase as the fighters touch gloves before a fight is looking to become more than a ref. I mean seriously what is the point in making up a catchphrase other than the fact that they want to be noticed? There are eceptions of course, Kenny Bayless has a catchphrase but he is generally a good ref. Notice I said "genrally" because of course no ref is perfect. Eventually they all screw up or make questionable calls. But at the moment, most of them believe they are doing the right thing.

"Im firm but I'm fair" Joe Cortez

He has been screwing up lately with the Hatton-Mayweather fight and the Soto DQ. He will constantly stop fights when the fighters are getting too wild and "calms them down". Why is he trying to calm them down? It's a fight, as long as they aren't kicking, headbutting or anything else he should just let them go at it.

Kenny Bayless
Is probally one of the best. He doesn't hog the action and when there's an infraction he clears the fighters letting both know that it won't be tolerated.

Joe Cortez
Tries to get some spotlight\attention while he's in the ring and gets overly involved.

Mills Lane
One in a million & Great Ref.

Jay Nady
Always has a favorite in the fight and it shows.

Richard Steele
A pretty good ref when Don King isn't around or involved.

Steve Smoger
Pretty good & fair ref.

Tony Weeks
Gets too involved & hes too Jittery - Should have given Castillo a standing 8-count against Corrales

Earl Morton
Needs to go back to the books - Crowds the fighters & gets way too involved in the action.

!

Frank Capuccino was old school. Remember in the first Gatti-Ward fight where Ward was pounding on Gatti near the end of round 9. Any other ref would have stopped it then. Gatti clinched after being caught with a non stop barrage from Ward. Capuccino broke them apart and didn't even look at Gatti's eyes to see if he was okay to continue. This was just another fight for him. I like that, refs who don't panic at the first sight of someone taking blows.

The guy that reffed Tszyu vs Hatton... i couldnt get over him breaking clinches everytime ricky nodded at him he was like "yes sir".

I disagree with you on Weeks. Castillo was out on his feet, like out cold on his feet. I thought it was a good call. Castillo would have gotten seriously hurt.

Steve Smoger is one of the best in the game. I remember him reffing a couple of Tyson fights, after the Holyfield fights, and he kept Mike under control yet didn't get in the way.

I like weeks. Smoger is good but he has off nights like the casamayor-santa cruz fight and hes a little touchy feely and likes to pat butts , I guess as long as its not kids and the boxers should be able to handle themselves

I remember him in the Tyson-Nielsen fight, where Nielsen was quitting on his stool. Smoger comes over and asks him if he's done. Nielsen says yes so Smoger kneels in front of him, grabs Nielsen and starts yelling "I love you, I love you". Weird.

I feel where you're coming from and believe you to be on point. I just believe that the standing 8-count should be used more often. Its designed to give both the ref & fighter the chance to evaluate the situation. And the ref has the opportunity to get in the fighter's face to see if hes had enough.

But many refs just jump in and stop fights without even considering a standing 8. Then after the fact, find out that the fighter was not as done as he appeared to be.

In that particular fight, I would have favored weeks jumping in to give an 8-count instead of jumping in and stopping the fight.

here is an interesting quote from a recent post by randy gordan on CBZ regarding chavez/taylor:

"As for the Julio Cesar Chavez-Meldrick Taylor fight, I was besieged with calls from the media, asking me if I agreed with Steele, as I was then Chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission. My answer was “Yes, I agree with his call.” It’s not the referee’s job to know how much time is remaining in the round. It’s his (or her) job to protect the fighter. In the incredible thunder of noise that existed throughout the arena in the final seconds of that fight, Steele was unaware of how many seconds remained. He had been watching both fighters closely because both were battered, cut, hurt and exhausted from a long, grueling fight. When Taylor went down and rose on unsteady legs and didn’t respond to Steele’s questions, other than to blink and turn his head away from Steele, the referee had no choice but to stop the fight. I’ve watched the tape plenty, especially in the days after it happened. I watched it by myself, I watched it with my staff and I watched it with friends who are/were in the boxing business.

I had no doubt then that Richard Steele did the right thing in stopping the fight.

I feel the same way today.

-Randy G."

It's not gay as long as he says "good game" ... Anyway, I do like Smoger. I've never noticed the touchy feely things you're talking about, but I will have to start looking out for that. I just like how he lets the fighters just go at it and allows them to work themselves out of clinches. He does let fights go on which might not be in the best interest of the fighters, but it definitely makes it exciting for the fans.

I can't stand Jay Nady. This isn't really a bad thing, but I always think of 1 thing when I think of Jay Nady. When ever I hear or see Jay Nady I think of the RJJ vs. Tarver II fight... he brings the fighters to the center of the ring to give them the final instructions. Then he asks if either fighter has a question... Roy says no, but Tarver says, "yeah I got a question... you got any excuses tonight Roy!!" Nady just looks at him and goes, "uh... uh... let's not ask questions like that!" I don't know why I think that was just hilarious. It's at about the 2:45 mark of the video I'm going to try to attach.

When I clicked on the video to see if it worked, it said the video is no longer available. I might not have inserted the flash video correctly so here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i25HXQdSEyU

The worst ref for a late stoppage was Roger Yanez in the Alex Garcia-Bernard Benton fight. In round 2 there were about 33 unanswered punches that Garcia was landing flush on Benton. at least 25 were power shots and Yanez is nowhere around. Al Albert and Sean Ogrady, who covered the commentary for USA Friday Night Fights were screaming in panic, "Where's the referee? This is horrible!!! Finally when Yanez gets into position he appears to not stop the fight but begin an 8 count!!! I remember John Montono and the corner of Benton rushing in to force the fight to be stopped. The worst officiating I have ever witnessed! Yanez got a three month suspension from the Arizona Boxing Commission, worked a few fights after that without incident. He still shockingly defended his actions in interviews, which to me was very frightening, both as a boxing fan and a boxing writer. No one really knows what went through Mr. Yanez's head at the time of that massacre. And I stand firm on that match. It was not a fight, it was a massacre. That second round is absolutely horrifying to watch.

Jack