Wednesday, January 24, 2007 Officials named in Gorres bout
THE World Boxing Organization (WBO) released the name of officials who will officiate the WBO super-flyweight championship between Mexican champion Fernando “Chucolito” Montiel and Cebuano sensation Z “The Dream” Gorres on Feb. 24 at the Cebu City Sports Complex.
WBO president Paco Valcarcel told Cebuano top-notch promoter Sammy Gello-ani in an official communication that he had appointed Samuel Viruet of Mahopac, New York, USA to be the third man inside the ring.
The three ringside judges are Raul Caiz of Los Angeles California, Chuck Giampa of Las Vegas, Nevada and Denny Nelson of St. Paul, Minnesota.
Viruet is a veteran referee for more than 21 years and had officiated WBO titular contest since 1995. His first with WBO was the lightweight championship fight between Stever Robinson and Naseem Hamed at the Madison Square Garden in New York.
Viruet is a well-traveled official as he reached countries like South Africa, Germany, Thailand, Scotland, France, England, Wales and Italy to officiate world championship matches. His celebrated matches were Joan Guzman vs. Terdsak Jandaeng in 2005 and the Marco Antonio Barrera vs. Paul Lloyd for the WBO super-bantamweight diadem in 1999.
Like Viruet, Caiz is also a 21-year veteran as a judge. He has officiated a total of 222 matches, including his first world title match in 1988 for the WBC bantamweight title in Cartagena, Columbia. He also judged two of Barrera’s title fights, two with Montiel and one with Juan Manuel Marquez.
Illustrious record
Giampa on the other hand had an illustrious record of 279 fights as a judged only 20 years.
He debuted on Sept. 24, 1986 and judged his first title fight on May 30, 1987 for the IBF heavyweight at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. He had been a judge on the title fights of Oscar Dela Hoya (8 times), Marco Antonio Barrera (5 times), Erik Morales (3 times), Evander Holyfield (6 times), Mike Tyson (4 times), Riddick Bowe (4 times) and George Foreman (3 times).
He was one of the judges in the Hector Velasquez-Bobby Pacquiao and Carlos Manuel Baldomir-Floyd Mayweather, Jr. brawls in 2006. He also judge the first Erik Morales- Manny Pacquiao match way back in May 2005.
He was also in MGM Grand to vote for the disqualification of Mike Tyson when the latter bit Holyfield’s ear.
Nelson is the most veteran of the trade. His stint as a boxing judge stretches for 31 years.
He started his career on April 23, 1975 and got his first world title fight in July 1980 during a WBC light welterweight bout between Jaoul Mamby and Esteban De Jesus at the Metropolitan Sports Center in Bloomington, Minnesota. (RCM)
