Referee Tony Weeks adds to firestorm over Lawson stoppage
Referee Tony Weeks adds to firestorm over Lawson stoppage
Makes serious allegations toward Nevada State Athletic Commission
A note to Fight Freaks Unite readers: I created Fight Freaks Unite in January 2021 and eight months later it also became available for paid subscriptions for additional content — and as a way to help keep this newsletter going and for readers to support independent journalism. If you haven’t upgraded to a paid subscription please consider it. If you have already, I truly appreciate it! Also, consider a gift subscription for the Fight Freak in your life.
The controversy over referee Tony Weeks’ decision to stop the Vergil Ortiz Jr.-Fredrick Lawson fight in a first-round stunner on Saturday night is nothing compared to what Weeks alleged soon after the bout.
In a now-deleted Facebook post on Sunday, Weeks, who has been hammered on social media for the stoppage, wrote about his apparent reason for ending the 156-pound bout and awarding Ortiz a first-round knockout victory after just 2 minutes, 33 seconds at the Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas.
“What the public didn’t know (is) that prior to the fight they did a brain scan on him and it came up that he had an aneurysm, and they did a test again and the same aneurysm came up,” Weeks wrote about Lawson. “Another doctor was brought in and gave him the same examination and he tested negative for the aneurysm, so they cleared him to fight.”
If what Weeks is alleging is true it is extraordinarily serious that a fighter with a possible significant brain issue was licensed to box by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
Please upgrade to a paid subscription for full access to all posts and comments — and also help support independent journalism
Weeks’ stoppage has been widely condemned because while Lawson had taken a few punches — it is boxing, after all — he had not been knocked down, cut or even rocked.
During the flurry of shots that Ortiz unleashed just before Weeks stepped in, many of the landed punches were to the body and Lawson, who had backed up to the ropes, had his hands up high as he defended himself and he either slipped or blocked most of the heads shots.
Still, Weeks jumped in for seemingly no apparent reason and ended the main event of the Golden Boy Promotions card on DAZN, which was Ortiz’s first fight in 17 months as he was returning from health issues.
Lawson (30-4, 22 KOs), 34, a Ghana native fighting out of Chicago, did not appear hurt in any way and vigorously protested the stoppage. Even Ortiz (20-0, 20 KOs), 25, of the Grand Prairie, Texas, said that while he thought Weeks saved Lawson from an eventual knockout, he was surprised the fight was called off so quickly.
Weeks did not do an on-camera interview after the fight but Beto Duran, the ringside reporter for DAZN, spoke to Weeks and relayed his comments to the audience.
“He stopped the fight because he saw the punishment,” Duran said Weeks told him. “He saw that Fredrick’s eyes rolled back and there is no standing eight count, so that’s why he stopped the fight.”
Golden Boy issues a statement referring any questions to the Nevada commission.
“Fredrick Lawson was cleared by a Nevada State Athletic Commission sanctioned doctor to fight on Saturday night,” Golden Boy said in the statement. “All other questions should be referred to NSAC.”
‘All contestants in the event were subject to full medical examinations and were cleared by medical experts to compete without restrictions,’ — Nevada commission statement
A commission spokesperson responded to an inquiry from Fight Freaks Unite about the situation on Monday.
“On January 6, 2024, a contest was held between Vergil Ortiz and Fredrick Lawson in Las Vegas, Nevada,” the statement said. “The contest was under the jurisdiction of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. The health and safety of the unarmed combatants that compete in the State are paramount to the Commission. All contestants in the event were subject to full medical examinations and were cleared by medical experts to compete without restrictions.
“The Commission and its Executive Director (Jeff Mullen) will continue its ongoing practice of reviewing its official’s performance during and after an event.”
The commission declined to address Weeks’ allegations, although its policy is to not comment on medical matters related to a licensee.
Weeks, 67, of Las Vegas, has been a professional referee since 1994 and officiated nearly 900 fights, including some of boxing’s biggest bouts. Most memorably, he was the referee for the first fight between Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo, who met to unify lightweight titles in 2005 in Las Vegas and produced what many consider the greatest fight in boxing history, which ended with Corrales getting off the canvas twice in the 10th round and rallying to stop Castillo later in the round as Weeks stepped in. Weeks also judges MMA bouts.
Ortiz-Lawson was Weeks’ second high-profile main event in a row to elicit massive criticism for what many viewed as extremely premature stoppages.
He was the third person in the ring in May, when Ismael Barroso was handily outboxing Rolando Romero and ahead on all three scorecards through eight rounds in their bout for the vacant WBA junior welterweight title. Then Weeks called a very questionable knockdown against Barroso in the ninth round before making a universally criticized and inexplicable stoppage later in the round after Romero fired a few punches but none seemed to connect in any damaging manner, giving Romero the title victory in a Showtime headliner at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
A note to subscribers
I sincerely appreciate your readership. If you’re reading, it means you love boxing just like I do. If you’ve been reading you also know the quality and quantity of what I produce. It’s one-stop shopping. Read the newsletters and there is no need to search multiple websites or click a multitude of links to get the latest news, opinion and detailed fight schedule. Everything you need is in one spot and delivered directly to your inbox (or via phone alert if you download for free the superb Substack app). You don’t have to hunt for the news; it comes to you.
I believe that is worth something, so while I will continue providing stories, notes and the schedule for free, I encourage you to upgrade to a paid subscription for the most content. A paid subscription is your way of keeping this reader-supported newsletter going and supporting independent journalism. I am beholden to no network, promoter, manager, sanctioning body or fighter. If you have read my work at all during the past 24 years I’ve covered professional boxing you know that I keep it real and that will not change.
To upgrade your subscription please go here:
Thank you so much for your support of Fight Freaks Unite!
Ortiz/Weeks photo: Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy Promotions
Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danrafael1/
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanRafael1
Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DanRafaelBoxing
Dan, please keep us updated on this really disturbing allegation!!!
He’s been a bad referee for years.