Referee KOed in Japan Bout
By Alex P. Vidal
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 06 Aug 2007
In the more than 140 fights, many of which world championship, that he has officiated here and abroad, Angeles City-based international referee Bruce McTavish of New Zealand admitted it was the first time that he witnessed “live” at ringside a fellow referee being knocked out by one of the competing boxers.
“I was shocked because it was my first time to witness it live,” the veteran McTavish, adjudged by the Ring Magazine as one of the top and most competent referees in the world, told this writer after arriving from Tokyo August 5 where he officiated the OPBF middleweight title duel on August 4.
He recalled having seen some scenes where the third man in the ring was walloped by a boxer and fell on the canvas in a boxing match but they were on films, he said.
“If it happened in the Philippines, the normal reaction of the crowd would be to laugh. But in the case of that Thai referee (Ukrid Sarasas), a Japanese judge went to the ring to rescue a fallen colleague,” McTavish, who is married to a Filipina, narrated.
McTavish said the “knockout” came in the second round after Sarasas went to the “blind side” when protagonists Yosuhiro Kondo and Yoshihiro Kamegai were trading punches.
He saw Kondo’s left hook hitting Sarasas in the left face.
McTavish swore it was unintentional and Kondo was so apologetic. Kondo, himself was pummeled into submission and lost by TKO in the fourth round, McTavish said.
Matchmaker Joe Koizumi, reporting for Fighnews, wrote that Vinny Martin, a Japan-based Ghanan, took over Sarasas’ unfinished job and counted out the referee’s tormentor at 2:59 in the fourth round.
The Kondo-Kamegai tussle was underneath the OPBF middleweight shootout between champion Koji Sato and Indonesian David Koswara refereed by McTavish. Sato retained the title by KO in the second round.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Alex P. Vidal.
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