Referee knocked out while officiating Tokyo boxing match

A refereee was knocked out while officiating a boxing match in Tokyo last Saturday (August 4), according to a report posted at www.philboxing.com. Later in the fourth round, the boxer who accidentally gave the referee a hook in the face got himself knocked out too – by his proper opponent. Angeles City-based international referee Bruce McTavish of New Zealand witnessed how Thai referee Ukrid Sarasas was floored while officiating the Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) middleweight title fight. "I was shocked because it was my first time to witness it live," McTavish told the website. McTavish said that he had seen referees getting knocked out but only in films. This was the first time he experienced it live. "If it happened in the Philippines, the normal reaction of the crowd would be to laugh. But in the case of that Thai referee, a Japanese judge went to the ring to rescue a fallen colleague," McTavish said. McTavish narrated that one of the protagonist Yosuhiro Kondo accidentally hit the referee while he was trading punches with Yoshihiro Kamegai in the second round. McTavish added that the referee, who was at Kondo's blind side, got a left hook in his left face. Kondo, who was also knocked out in the match, apologized to the referee, who was replaced by Vinny Martin, a Japan-based Ghanan, who counted the Japanese out with 2:59 in the fourth round. - GMANews.TV