How can a referees attitude affect a boxing match?
Boxing referees are one of the few examples where a sole official can totally change an outcome of the match despite sticking to the rules, or rather “their interpretation of the rules”. Some referees are almost universally accepted as being brilliant boxing referees, men like Kenny Bayless, Vic Drakulich, Steve Smoger, Raul Caiz and Tony Weeks often let the action flow and have the respect of the fighters. They have the ability to make themselves just a part of the furniture, like the turn buckles, and only interject the fight when they have to, for example a blatant foul or a knock down. Other referees are biased in one way or another, referees that seem to be fans of certain fighters, or certain nation of fighters, bending the rules to help the man they want to help such as Joe Cortez in two fights involving a British fighter and an American fighter (Calzaghe v Hopkins and Hatton v Mayweather). Some referees however are one step further gone and are just completely inept such as Alf
