Famed Referee Ron Lipton Analyzes Controversial End of 1980 Tate-Berbick Bout
By Robert Brizel, Head RCM Boxing Correspondent
In an international Real Combat Media exclusive, world famous referee Ron Lipton pas proved analysis for the controversial end to the heavyweight bout between former world heavyweight champion John Tate and rising contender Trevor Berbick, which took place at Olympic Stadium on Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on June 20, 1980. One view has it Tate had not fully recovered from his WBA world title loss to Mike Weaver if the fifteenth round in Tennessee 49 days earlier, and fought again too soon. Tate appeared to be able to win both bouts where he got stopped in the cards, and would win his next 14 bouts in eight years. He never received another shot at regaining a share of the world heavyweight title.
Berbick had Tate in trouble from some hard punches in the ninth round of their bout, when Tate, for whatever reason, turned his back to Berbick during the barrage. Berbick then knocked out Tate with a blow to the back of the head. Tate never received a five minute recovery period for the illegal blow, as noted by referee Lipton. Berbick, who lost a 15 round decision to Larry Holmes for the world title, later decisioned Muhammad Ali, and then defeated 26-0-2 Pinklon Thomas in Las Vegas in March 1986 to briefly hold the WBC World Heavyweight title, which he lost to Iron Mike Tyson in Las Vegas eight months later.
Berbick died when he was murdered by a family member, Harold Berbick, over a family land dispute in 2006. Berbick’s given age at time of death was listed at 52, but may have been anywhere between 49 and 56 in another Sonny Liston age mystery. Tate died at age 43 in his native Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1998. Tate, a cocaine user, had suffered strokes due to a brain tumor, causing convulsions which made him black out when he crashed his pickup truck into a utility pole. Both fighters had been actively training young boxers.
Trevor Berbick versus John Tate 1980 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KItJtzLV0o
Real Combat Media: “Please define the end of the Tate-Berbick bout. Was Trevor Berbick’s blow to the back of John Tate’s head in round nine-which ended the bout-an illegal blow?”
Referee Ron Lipton: “It was clearly a foul to the back of the skull.”
Real Combat Media: “What do you remember about the end of the bout?”
Referee Ron Lipton: “I saw the finish to the fight and I remember it well. It is very simple really by today’s professional standard of refereeing if adhered to. Berbick got him (Tate) in trouble in the ninth round with legal punches to the already exhausted Tate. “
Real Combat Media: “Should the bout have been stopped when Tate turned his back to Berbick?”
Referee Ron Lipton: “When Tate turned his back while hurt badly, it would have been justified to stop the bout. When a fighter turns his back in surrender like that while running away to escape further punishment.”
Real Combat Media: “What then caused the rabbit punch by Berbick to occur?”
Real Combat Media: “The referee was too far away and lost control-while Berbick pursued a defenseless Tate and hit him an illegal rabbit punch to the back of the head.”
Real Combat Media: “How then should the bout have proceeded?”
Referee Ron Lipton: “The correct thing to do-although it may not be popular at the time- would be to call time, rule no knockdown due to an illegal rabbit punch, and give Tate up to five minutes to recover while calling an INTENTIONAL FOUL or UNINTENTIONAL FOUL at the referee’s discretion.”
Real Combat Media: “How then could or should the bout have ended?”
Referee Ron Lipton: “If called intentional (an intentional foul by Berbick) and Tate could not continue, Tate would win on a disqualification. If called unintentional (an unintentional foul by Berbick) and Tate could not continue by today’s rules they would go to the scorecards (as the bout had progressed to the fourth round or later).”
Real Combat Media: “Given the passage of time, the foul would be difficult to call precisely without actually being the referee in the ring seeing the action. Today’s rules do not necessarily apply. I adjudged the illegal blow to be flagrant, but the referee working the bout did not see it the same way. Nonetheless a rest period should have applied, and Tate clearly could not continue in any case. Given the locale of Montreal, as Berbick was a Jamaican fighting out of Montreal and the Canadian Heavyweight champion, Berbick would have won the bout on the cards. As it stood, Berbick got the win anyway, but the way Berbick got the win, according to referee Lipton, violated referee protocols and procedures both then and now. By hypermodern methods of analysis, the correct conclusion is Tate fought again too soon after losing to Mike Weaver, and the referee did an inappropriate job in ending the Tate versus-Berbick bout the way he did. He did not separate the fighters fast enough when Tate turned his back to Berbick, as the fight could have and should have been stopped right there. The interpretation of the facts proceeds from that point. The human aspect is what keeps sports interesting. Tate was entitled to a five minute rest period and having the bout go to the cards, no matter the interpretation of the blow. But to what end do you blame an opposing fighter for hitting another fighter whose back is turned from behind, when the referee has not intervened? The referee takes the blame for the events as they evolved after Tate turned his back, and the ending of the bout which followed and how it was adjudged to end. The blow thrown by Berbick to the back of Tate’s head was clearly a foul. What type of foul was never determined, as the referee did not determine the blow to be a foul in 1980 when the bout occurred.”
Ron Lipton: “With point deductions for the rabbit punch, of course.”
The above added line came in a follow up email after the rest of the above story was written. Since neither the scoring, nor the name of the referee, are known to historians, how much taking a way a point from Berbick would affected the bout if it had gone to the scorecards at the point where it ended in round nine remains unknown. In any case, the identity of the Tate-Berbick referee is not recorded anywhere, and nobody has come forward in the past 33 years to claim to be the referee, and given the oddball ending to the bout it’s no wonder.
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