Referee Tony Weeks' status must be considered in an open, public forum as soon as possible given the controversy Weeks ignited Sunday with a post on Facebook regrading the fitness of Fredrick Lawson to be fighting on Saturday. A long-time boxing referee and MMA judge with the Nevada Athletic Commission, Weeks stopped the main event of Saturday's Golden Boy Promotions show between Lawson and Vergil Ortiz Jr. at the Virgin Hotel seemingly way too early.
Ortiz won by technical knockout at 2:33 of the first round. Ortiz threw a combination at Lawson, who put his hands high to protect his head. Ortiz landed several punches to the head and body, but Lawson did not seem to be in jeopardy. Weeks, though, inexplicably jumped in to stop it, giving the knockout victory to Ortiz, who is now 20-0 with 20 KOs.
That, though, wasn't the big problem, though it is something that needs to be addressed. On Sunday, Weeks posted -- and later deleted after he created a social media firestorm -- a statement on his Facebook page. It alleged that Lawson was twice found to have had an aneurysm and that a third, unidentified doctor examined Lawson and said there was no aneurysm, thus clearing Lawson to fight.
That post would explain Weeks' actions of seemingly stepping in far too early to stop the fight. But it was a gross breach of judgment and should lead to some sort of disciplinary action against Weeks. Weeks created a situation in which he invited the public to impugn the integrity of the Nevada Athletic Commission while he also released what is supposed to be private information about an athlete's health.
Multiple sources told keviniole.com that Weeks' post was factually inaccurate and that Lawson did not have an aneurysm. He was, in fact, fit to fight, those sources insisted.
Golden Boy released a statement Sunday correctly noting Lawson was cleared by the commission, which is often lauded as one of the leaders in pursuing safety measures for athletes.
Weeks' actions in stopping the bout were bizarre and displayed bad judgment if he didn't have what he thought was prior knowledge of an issue with Lawson's medicals.. It is the second time in less than a year that Weeks appeared to stop a fight way too quickly. But if Weeks believed that in fact that Lawson had an aneurysm, even if that was an error in judgment, that could explain his quick stoppage.
On May 13, Rolando Romero was badly trailing Ismael Barroso. Weeks made what seemed to be a poor call in ruling that Romero knocked Barroso down in the ninth, and then magnified it when he stopped the fight early.
Then came Saturday's bout when Weeks jumped the gun again and stopped a fight when the fighter didn't seem to be in any difficulty. Ironically, Barroso fought on Saturday's card and stopped O'Hara Davies at 1:33 of the first.
The Nevada commission is expected to release a statement on Monday regarding the situation.
Weeks left the commission in an almost untenable position. Because of his quick stoppage and then his Facebook post asserting that two separate examinations showed that Lawson had an aneurysm, he's put the commission in the position of looking like it's trying to hide something.
No one is certain what the commission will say, either regarding the allegations that tests showed Lawson had an aneurysm, or about Weeks' quick stoppage.
Weeks' recent history and then his questionable decision to make a post on Facebook calls in question his ability to function effectively as a referee. Nevada needs to address Weeks' allegations clearly and directly. Anything less makes it appear there was something to hide.