THE REFEREE for Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk was at the centre of a hugely controversial boxing decision last year.
Robert Ramirez Jr will take charge of Saturday’s epic heavyweight showdown in Saudi Arabia.
The Puerto Rican has run the rule over 412 matches throughout his career, which started back in 2003.
He has been involved in fights including the likes of Andre Ward and Tommy Fury.
While he also took charge of Logan Paul’s win over Dillon Danis in 2023.
Fury vs Usyk now represents the biggest bout of Ramirez Jr’s career.
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But he was involved in controversy in November last year when Katie Taylor won her rematch against Chantelle Cameron in Dublin.
The Irish ace had suffered the first defeat of her pro career to Cameron six months earlier.
But Taylor regained her light welterweight titles with a majority decision in the rematch.
The result proved to be controversial after she went down in the first round.
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But Ramirez Jr ruled it to be a slip, with Taylor fighting back to secure victory.
Afterwards, Cameron blasted the ref for his decision and claimed the result was unfair.
She said: “It wasn’t just me and Katie in that ring. If it was, I’d take the loss and say the better woman won on the night.
“I had everything against me. The ref on the night… it was such a high-status fight, why would you put in a referee that no one had heard of?
“That’s not my job, it’s my job to fight. I don’t look into who’s reffing, who’s judging.
“I’m just frustrated – if I could turn back the hands of time, I would make sure that was all looked into. I’ve learnt my lesson.”
Cameron’s trainer Jamie Moore also took aim at Ramirez Jr, adding: “She just feels like this whole scenario was set up for her to lose.
“It was a close fight, it could have gone either way. We were denied a knockdown in the first round, which should have been.
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“I begged the ref before, last time she (Taylor) got away with holding a lot. My fighter’s best work is up close.
“And he allowed her to go on worse this time than it was last time.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
