Jack Reiss on his best and worst fights, lessons learned

Boxing referee Jack Reiss is retiring as a boxing referee at the end of this year. Reiss has refereed 1,152 professional fights, including numerous title fights. His career has featured big fights and dramatic moments, including his decision to give Tyson Fury a count after Deontay Wilder floored him in the 12th round of their 2018 bout, a decision praised to this day by some (and criticized by others).

Reiss recently spoke to BoxingScene about the most memorable moments of his distinguished career.

Q: A lesson you pass on to younger referees?

I try to express to the younger officials, you can’t fix shit. Sometimes, two guys are so full of adrenaline and emotion, and they lack some skills, that no matter what you do, it’s not going to be a good fight. In situations like that, you have to remember: “when you’re going through hell, keep going.”

I’ll give you a great example. I did one of the worst fights I ever had to do, Anthony Dirrell and Sakio Bika. It was one-two, grab, one-two grab. It was like a wrestling match, and I tried, I implored them, I took points at some point, but if I kept going down that path, I probably would have disqualified somebody. So rather than trying to fix something that was totally broken because they just were wild and hated each other, I just broke them quickly, separated them and let them go at it again. Instead of breaking them and talking to them, I just kept the fight moving. The people were booing them, not me. It was about the fighters instead of the referee’s over-intervention.

Q: The greatest fight you were a part of?
The most notable fight I’ve ever been part of was Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury I, because of the magnitude of that fight. I’ve been part of some unbelievable fights, and one that stands out is Orlando Salido against Cristobal Cruz. They threw a combined 2,200 punches in 12 rounds. They weren’t pitter-pat punches either. These guys went at it for 12 rounds, and it was a great fight. I’ve been fortunate to be the referee of plenty of great fights with some of the greatest fighters of our time.

Q: Do you have a funny story from a fight?

I have two. The first one, I don’t want to use the fighter’s name, but I was the referee for this guy that was brought in as the opponent and in the second round he goes down as if he was unconscious. Only problem was that I did not see a punch that hit him!

I kneeled down next to him and said, “you didn’t get hit, if you don’t get up I’m going to disqualify you and you’re not getting paid.” He immediately got up and did a backflip and went back to fighting. Whenever I’ve seen him since, he has a big smile on his face when he sees me and always gives me a big hug.

The second is a heavyweight fight with Chris Arreola. I can’t remember who he fought because I have refereed seven of his fights. They’re going at it. Chris gets dropped pretty good. I get to him, he’s on his knee and receiving the count, he gets up. I ask him if he is okay. He says something like, “yes Jack, now get out of my way.” I said to myself, well, I guess he’s okay! Stuff like that cracks me up when the guys do that. I expected him to be severely concussed and he was clear as could be.

Q: Any fight you knew would be intense standing in the ring?

That has happened multiple times. The most notable one that stands out to me is Andre Ward against Edwin Rodriguez. There was bad blood between them, Rodriguez came in 10 pounds overweight, and it really created worse blood. Rodriguez had to give up 200 grand of his million-dollar purse. 100,000 went to Ward, and 100 went to the state, and it was ugly.

When I walked into the arena, I immediately got approached by the promoter who said, “Jack, this is really turning to shit already,” I said, “I got it, can you just let me go put my stuff down?” Then someone from Edwin Rodriguez’s corner approached me as well. The level of tension in both dressing rooms was unbelievably high, and the fight turned out to be that way. It was a nasty, ugly fight for the first four rounds. They just hated each other.

Q: Ever say “Whoa” when watching a good fight manifest in front of you?

Yes! So many fights. I would say to myself, “Wow, I’m the luckiest guy in the world. This is an unbelievable battle, and I have a front row seat.” Not only is it a great fight, but other times I’m in with these fighters that I go, “I can’t believe I get to witness this,” like watching [Vasiliy] Lomachenko. I think I did three or four of his fights. When you watch him pick a guy apart, make the guy miss, and make him pay for it to the body –– he’s the matrix, man, he really is. And fights I got to do with: Gennadiy Golovkin, Andre Ward, Bernard Hopkins, Terence Crawford, Gervonta Davis, Nonito Donaire, Errol Spence, Shawn Porter, Antonio Tarver, Vergil Ortiz, Timothy Bradley Jnr, and to many other great fighters to mention –– I am lucky and have been blessed to be able to do what I did.