Concepcion - Luevano Fight: Scrutinizing Jay Nady

“No one is perfect”. This saying is very true. Unfortunately boxing referees, where a single mistake may determine a fate of a boxer, are not exempted to this rule. But what if a boxing referee errs as often as the Hollywood stars change partners? Would you ever trust his officiating again? Case in point: Jay Nady.

Jay Nady was the third man in the Bernabe Concepcion – Steven Luevano title fight in the much hyped Pinoy Power 2 PPV fight. Nady disqualified Concepcion after the 7th round for throwing late punches that knocked his opponent out. Many boxing experts say that Nady’s call was right. Few however, still insist that the illegal blows thrown by Concepcion, whether the Filipino pugilist unleashed those shots intentionally or not or whether he heard the bell or not, could have been prevented if Nady timely jumped in between the fighters after the bell sounded. Are these few boxing aficionados unfairly judging the veteran referee? Maybe or maybe not. However, the fact that is as clear as spring water is Nady had had many controversial calls in several fights in the past. Here are some in no specific order:

Roy Jones Jr – John Ruiz (1st round): Nady spewed six warnings to Ruiz when no apparent fouls were being committed. When Nady was breaking the fighters up for the second time, he told Ruiz “You hit him twice low, bring your punches up”. Ruiz tried to argue but Nady immediately retorted “No, you listen to me. They were low”.

Marco Antonio Barrera – Juan Manual Marquez (7th round): Barrera clearly knocked Marquez down with a crisp right straight as the round concluded. But, Nady surprisingly ruled it as a slip and deducted a pivotal one point from Barrera for hitting after the bell. Nady could have easily prevented Barrera for hitting Marquez when the latter was down if he was close to the action.

Kendall Holt – Ricardo Torres 2 (1st round): After knocking Holt down in the opening seconds of the first round, Torres swarmed Holt with a flurry of punches in an effort to end the fight and a left hook put Holt to the canvass anew. Nady was a bit late to react and as soon as Holt regained his feet, Torres landed one more left hook which was a clear foul but startlingly not acknowledged by the veteran referee.

Edwin Cassiani - Luiz Collazo (3rd round): Cassiani uncorked several combinations on Collazo midway of the third round that noticeably dazed the American. Collazo was still on his feet; perhaps the ropes were holding him up, when Nady hastily waved the fight off. Many believed that Nady over reacted and that the stoppage was pre-mature.

Butterbean – Peter McNeeley (Pre-fight referee instructions): During the referee instructions and touching of gloves, Nady gaved nothing, obviously he already made his instructions at each fighter’s dressing room, except “Do you have any questions? Obey my commands”. When one of McNeeley’s corner men asked him “Where’s the (Butterbean’s) beltline ref? Where’s the beltline there?” Nady retorted “I see his beltline”. The same corner man responded “Well, it’s a little bit high”. Nady said haughtily to the guy “Stand back. Go back to your corner.” He then asked the boxer to touch gloves and told the same corner man to his face “And don’t tell me how to do my job again.” While many thought that the event was a storm in a teacup, others maintained that Nady should have answered the valid question but chose not to. What he showed was the arrogant and close-minded side of him.

In all of these fights, not to mention the Tszyu-Judah, Taylor-Hopkins 2 and Corley-Flores fights, Nady proved his inconsistency as the third man inside the ring. And in the recently concluded Concepcion-Luevano fight, he proved it to the boxing world once again. He might be a hall a famer referee, but at the same time, he will probably become the most controversial referee in America ever. (photo: Referee Jay Nady)