What Is The Referees Job

The referees job starts before he’s even stepped foot inside the ring. Before the fight he will go to both fighters dressing rooms and go through the rules for the fight and what he expects of both fighters.  In the ring however is when his hard work starts:

• Giving final instructions: Before the start of the fight the referee will bring both fighters together in the centre of the ring and reiterate some of the things he went over in the dressing room and give them his final instructions.

• Braking up the fighters: Throughout the fight fighters will often clinch or hold one another when this happens the referee will call “Brake” and then both fighters have to take one step back. The referee will also brake the fighters up to warn them about something, or if one is doing something wrong for example punching behind the back of the head or pushing the other fighter down.

• Deducting points: The referee can deduct a point from a fighter if he feels it is needed, he can do this for a number of reasons, but the most common offence that a fighter will lose a point for is a low blow.  If the referee does take a point he will stop the fight take the offending fighter by the hand and walk him round the ring indicating to the judges that he has deducted one point and what it was for.

• Counting a knockdown: The referees most well known job is to administer the count to a fighter who has been knockdown. In the event of a knockdown the referee will send the fighter standing to a neutral corner, and then begin the count on the fighter that has been knockdown, the referee will always count to 8 by then the fighter has to be ready to continue.

• Stopping the fight: One of the most important jobs a referee has is to protect the health of both fighters, so if he feels that a fighter is taking too many punches or can no longer defend himself them the referee will step in and stop the fight.  

This is one of the most controversial parts of a referees job, as they are often criticised for stopping a fight to early like in the first Froch Groves fight. Or they get criticised for letting a fight go on to long as was the case in the Chris Eubank Jr. Nick Blackwell fight. Now I know at some point we’ve all criticised referees for this, but  what we all need to remember is that been a referee is a very hard and difficult job to get right all the time, and the referee only gets a split second to make a decision and we get the benefit of instant replay and analysis. I don’t know about you but I would much rather see the referee step in a bit too early then see a fighter get hurt.

I hope you enjoyed this post and I hope you all now have a better understanding of a referees job I know I do. Don’t forget to comment in the box below and let me know what you think.