TONY WEEKS IS REFEREE FOR CASIMERO-AMNAT IBF TITLE REMATCH
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 21 May 2016
Well-known referee Tony Weeks will be the third man in the ring when former IBF light flyweight champion John Reil Casimero tries to avenge his loss to flyweight champion Amnat Ruenroeng of Thailand in Bejing, China on March 25.
The three judges who will officiate in the much-awaited rematch are New York?s Robin Taylor, South Africa?s Deon Dwarte and Steve Weisfeld of New Jersey.
Weeks was referee and Weisfeld was one of the judges when eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao won a comfortable twelve round unanimous decision over Timothy ?Desert Storm? Bradley in their third encounter last April 9 in Las Vegas while Weisfeld scored it 116-110 for Pacquiao who dropped Bradley in rounds seven and nine to seal the victory before announcing his retirement.
He was also a judge in the Errol Spence Jr ? Chris Algieri bout last April 16 when Spence Jr won by a 5th round TKO in a scheduled ten round called by referee Benjy Esteves Jr last April 16 and the Frankie Gomez shutout over Mauricio Herrera at the T-Mobile Arena on May 7.
Co-promoter Sammy Gello-ani told The Standard that Weeks was ?a really good choice? while Dr. Rajan Yraola in whose gym Casimero has been training said he had confidence in judges Weisfeld and Taylor but knew nothing about Dwarte.
He also told us that he had Casimero?s ?body fat? checked on Thursday and it was 4.5 percent while he was still around 7 pounds over the 112 pound limit which isn?t a concern and that Casimero should be able to make the weight with no problem.
The records of boxrec.com show that Deon Dwarte has been a referee since 2013 and never a fight judge raising some concern over the switch.
However, Dwarte who was a judge when Nonito ?The Filipino Flash? Donaire scored a lopsided decision over IBO super bantamweight champion Jeffrey Mathebula on July 7, 2012, Dwarte was commended by analyst Leon Reyes of Bleacher Report who noted that ?boxing judge Deon Dwarte of South Africa did something unexpected when media learned he gave his compatriot (Mathebula) only one round credit during the unification bout with Nonito Donaire scoring the fight 119-108 with American judge Steve Morrow 118-109 and fellow American Jonathan Davis had it 117-110? even though days before the fight critics had claimed Donaire would have to win by a knockout or a convincing victory since one of the judges was from South Africa. They were wary of possible biased judging because of Dwarte?s track record in fights where South African fighters were involved.?
Happily, the fears were unfounded judging by Dwarte?s performance.
Photo: Referee Tony Weeks being interviewed by the author.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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