By Tim Parsons
Joseph Parker’s will have to put up with British referee Terry O’connor if he is to prove himself a legitimate heavyweight contender.Duco events, who support Parer, had protested the selection of Terry O’connor, who has officiated for the last two Fury fights.
The fight set for September 24 in Manchester is for the WBO heavyweight championship belt- one of the 3 belts stripped of Tyson Fury when he beat Wladimir Klitschko in 2015. Hughie, who is the cousin of Tyson Fury, plans to claim the title his cousin lost, but referee O’connor is believed to be be biased towards the Fury’s
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However, Head of British Boxing Board Of control, Robert Smith, defended his position in an interview with Sky Sports.
POLICY
The president of the BBBof C said :”Our standard policy is to have a British referee, a British judge, an official from the country where the boxer is coming from and another from a neutral country [on the judging panel],” Smith told Sky Sports.
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“We advised the WBO some time ago our referee we want to appoint is Terry O’Connor and the judge being Marcus McDonnell.
”We take on board what their thoughts are, we don’t agree. We feel on this occasion, there is no need to deviate from our standard policy.”
“We asked them to supply us their names for the other two. They supplied us two other names, which didn’t include a New Zealander. When that was questioned, we said we are very happy for a New Zealand judge, absolutely right, got no problem with that at all. But we still haven’t had any New Zealand judge sent to us from the WBO for approval. That’s ultimately their responsibility”.
RIDICULOUS
In 2009, he awarded one of the most ridiculous judments in favour of Tyson Fury against John Mcdermott, when most observers believed Mcdermott had comfortably beaten Tyson Fury. He has officiated the past two Fury fights, and Parker’s team are concerned of having him as the referee for their championship fight next Saturday. However, hea dof the British boxing board of control, Robert Smith, told Sky Sports
McDermott’s promoter Frank Maloney at the time branded Terry O’Connor ”a disgrace to British boxing”, asking:
“Why do I want to be in the business when you’re getting robbed? At least Dick Turpin has a mask on when he robs you.”
A rematch was eventually ordered with a different referee, and Tyson Fury took the decisions in his own hands by knocking out McDermott in the 9th round.
WIN
Parker will have to win comfortably if he is to be regarded as a real champion. All eyes will be on O’connor during the fight, but if Parker is the better of the two fighters, he must show this with a convincing win. He should not be relying on a points victory.
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