When The Name of The Game is The Man in the Middle
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Correspondent
Rare it is when a professional boxing world championship bout takes place, and everything goes smoothly because the referee sets a precise tempo for a super clean bout. Such was the case on May 24, 2013, at Westchester County Center in White Plains, New York, when the great Ron Lipton refereed the ten round women’s IWBF vacant super featherweight world bout between unbeaten Ronica Jeffrey of Brooklyn and Canadian challenger Olivia Gerula, a former WBC world champion.
Referee Ron Lipton had no way of knowing Ronica Jeffrey would come out of the bout ranked by BoxRec as the number female super featherweight in the world.
Lipton was refereeing his first world title bout in 15 years, since Lipton refereed Luis Ramon Campas versus Anthony Stephens for the International Boxing Federation Light middleweight title at Foxwoods Casino and Resort in Mashantucket, Connecticut, in March 1998, which Lipton stopped in favor of Campas in round three. Lipton was inactive as a referee for ten years from April 2002 to May 2012 before his recent return at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York, on May 12, 2012, to referee the six rounder between super featherweights Chazz McDowell and Yuniel Ramos, won by McDowell by majority decision.
On a night when fouls costs fighters draws in two preceding bouts with different referees, Lipton appeared unfazed. The entire ten round bout refereed by Lipton did not have a single clinch or foul. Part of this had to do with the fighters, of course, who fought a clean bout. The other part of it had to do with Lipton’s demeanor, whose sense of concentration, presence and tempo set the stage for a tremendous example of ring generalship on the part of both fighters and the referee.
In my professional view, this is the way fighters should be fought, and this is the way fights should be refereed. The boxing referee, by his or her presence, should influence fighters to fight properly and cleanly and respect the referee at all times.
Ron Lipton got there, so hat’s off, and it’s quite a feat, no matter how it was accomplished. The ten round two minute rounds female world title fight was a great bout for Lipton to get his feet wet on the world championship stage in a lesser known venue. Soon, Lipton will be ready yet again as he once was for higher level male world championship fights at Barclay’s Center and Madison Square Garden.
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