Connect with us

Boxing

We remember boxing referee and friend Steve Morrow

Published

on

Remembering Boxing Judge and Friend Steve Morrow

Eric Bottjer

This one is vital. And it hurts. Steve Morrow is gone. You may recognize the name – Steve was a long-time boxing referee in California who became part of the WBC family. And if you actually knew Steve – on any level – today will be a day dedicated to processing his loss.

I met Steve in 1989. I moved to Gilroy, California right out of journalism school, working at the local newspaper, The Dispatch. The editor put me on a town hall beat. Huge mistake. A great reporter from the neighboring San Jose Mercury News, Jack Foley, regularly kicked my butt (he caught me).

And then a stroke of luck. The police and court reporter was leaving and the editor in desperation threw me into her seat (Perrin Weston, HUGE shoes to fill and not because she had massive feet). Soon I was kicking Jack’s ass (which I’m kind of proud of because Jack Foley shared the Pulitzer Prize with other Mercury reporters in 1989). And I used my press badge to get into local fights.

One night at Joe Gagliardi’s gala in San Jose, there was a great four-round fight that ended with fans littering the ring with coins (for the fighters). I noticed a group of guys in economical seats who seemed to be aiming coins at my ringside seat (where I happened to be sitting).

Stupidly fearless, I went to face them. And there they were – six Gilroy cops, Steve Morrow among them. It was a really significant moment (for me). I gained the trust of most of the department (“He’s a good kid. He likes boxing”), and these officers graciously allowed me a peek into their world, which gave me credibility not only with them, but also with my colleagues in the journalism industry, because these cops gave me information that allowed me to write some notable stories (I knew I was almost accepted by the police when the cops started calling me “Jimmy Olsen” – nicknames were popular with them).

Steve wasn’t their leader, but he was the one I bonded with the most. Steve was a thoroughly decent man who “got” life and what meaning life could (and should) have – helping others. He wrote an occasional column for The Dispatch, explaining his work to the 40,000 people who lived in Gilroy. There is no doubt that Steve was a tough guy, but in the many rides I went on with Steve and other officers, he was never aggressive towards people, and many of those people were not elated to see Steve and his fellow officers. I learned that a good officer smooths over arguments and treats everyone the same, regardless of their personal feelings (some police officers face terrible behavior). Even when I occasionally encountered officers I didn’t care about, Steve humanized them for me. And I know he made it clear that I was being humane towards them (cops and reporters have a natural, adversarial working relationship).

Everything Steve did for me, the most gracious act he ever did in my newborn life was allowing me to aid him. I wrote a column for Virgil Thrasher’s excellent trade publication Boxing Update (and its sister publication The Flash), and Steve asked me how he could write some. For eight years I introduced him to Virgil and Steve’s boxing, going to all the events in Northern California and reporting from the ring.

In the meantime, he told me that he would like to try refereeing. I talked to Dean Lohuis from the committee, who helped Steve get into this world. When I first saw Steve smiling as a ring referee during a title fight on HBO, I felt like a proud little brother.

I don’t take credit for Steve getting into boxing. He would have found his way even if we had never met. But I’m very glad we met. I love him so much.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Boxing

Davies vs Collins & Heaney vs Warburton II Results: Full Fight Recap

Published

on

"Davies vs Collins & Heaney vs Warburton II Results: Full Fight Recap"

World Boxing News provides results and updates as Liam Davies faces Nathaniel Collins in the main event at bp pulse LIVE in Birmingham.

Davies and Collins collide over 12 rounds for the EBU European featherweight title at the top of the Queensberry Promotions card.

Luke McCormack faces Kay Prospere for the vacant British super lightweight title, while Bradley Goldsmith takes on Amir Abubaker for the IBF International middleweight title.

WBN provides results and updates from every bout as they happen.


Results

All times are local BST.

23:11

Gerome Warburton defeated Nathan Heaney for the second time running as the middleweight put an exclamation mark on his first victory.

Heaney walks away from the sport having been an entertainer through a long carer, without reaching the heights of a world title.

22:04

Liam Davies improved to 19-1 after Nathaniel Collins retired at the end of the seventh round due to a cut over his right eye. Collins had also been dropped in the opening round as Davies successfully defended the European featherweight title.

21:22

Bradley Goldsmith improved to 17-1 with a seventh-round stoppage of Amir Abubaker to retain his IBF International middleweight title. Abubaker went down in the fourth and three times in the seventh before the finish at 2:42.

20:10

Lewis Richardson improved to 3-0 with a shutout six-round points victory over Ivan Trofimovich, earning a 60-54 decision.

19:56

Luke McCormack moved to 6-0 and claimed the vacant British super lightweight title with a tenth-round knockout of Kay Prospere, who was counted out after a right uppercut at 1:28.

18:55

Michael Hussain moved to 5-0 with a four-round points victory over Nabil Ahmed, earning a 39-38 decision.

18:11

Nelson Birchall moved to 12-0 with a third-round stoppage of Lewis Morris, who went down before the finish came at 1:12. Lasha Guruli also remained unbeaten at 5-0 after edging Hughie Wilson 77-75 over eight rounds.

17:22

Early action saw John Tom Varey and Reese Lynch claim four-round victories to move to 3-0 and 5-0 respectively.


TV Coverage

DAZN provides full worldwide coverage.

Follow WBN’s live boxing coverage throughout the event.


About the Author

Phil Jay is the Editor-in-Chief of World Boxing News (WBN), a BWAA-acknowledged boxing news website founded in 2010. A veteran boxing reporter with 16 years of experience, he has interviewed world champions, broken international exclusives, and reported ringside from major events. His work is published worldwide through WBN and distributed on platforms including Apple News.

Read Phil Jay’s full bio and latest stories.

Continue Reading

Boxing

Janibek Alimkhanuly Shifts Perspective on Hamzah Sheeraz: A New Dynamic in Boxing

Published

on

"Janibek Alimkhanuly Shifts Perspective on Hamzah Sheeraz: A New Dynamic in Boxing"

Janibek Alimkhanuly spent months trying to get Hamzah Sheeraz into the ring. Now that Sheeraz has vacated his WBO super middleweight title, Janibek is asking fans to stop saying the former champion ran from him. That is generous. It also leaves Janibek with less to say about a fight he wanted badly.

Janibek’s tone has changed since the purse bid. He was eager to fight, said money was not his priority, and publicly pushed Sheeraz to accept. Queensberry then bid $1,001,809 to stage the ordered defense, beating Top Rank’s $820,000 offer. Sheeraz’s 75 percent share would have been roughly $751,000. Days later, he gave up the belt.

That sequence deserves a closer look. Queensberry put a serious number on the fight, so the bid itself cannot be dismissed as proof that nobody valued it. But winning the right to promote a title defense means little to fans when the champion vacates before it happens.

Sheeraz has objected to Janibek receiving a mandatory shot after his failed drug test. He is entitled to explain that position. Fans are equally entitled to ask why the issue reached a purse bid before he surrendered the title. Janibek’s post supplies no answer.

Perhaps Janibek sees no benefit in branding Sheeraz a coward. Doing so would also make the opponent he chased sound less valuable. Calling Sheeraz a great fighter preserves the idea that this was an important contest, even after the belt and the fight slipped away.

The respect between them may be sincere. Janibek still gets no Sheeraz fight, and Sheeraz no longer has to defend his title against Janibek. A friendly photo does not change either result.

Share this article

About the author

Boxing 24/7 Wire

Boxing247.com is an independent boxing news publication covering the sport since 2001. It provides original reporting, fight analysis, schedules, results, and informed coverage of major fighters and events worldwide, backed by more than 25 years of professional boxing journalism.

Continue Reading

Boxing

Virginia Confirms Decision to Erase Prichard Colón Loss from Records

Published

on

Virginia Confirms Decision to Erase Prichard Colón Loss from Records

Virginia has given World Boxing News its final answer on whether Prichard Colón’s last professional defeat can still be challenged, bringing an end to WBN’s long fight to have the result annulled and removed from his record.

WBN has pursued the possibility of changing the controversial disqualification defeat to Terrel Williams, with those efforts continuing following Colón’s death at age 33.

Virginia’s Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation previously explained that a decision can only be overturned if there is proven collusion, a scorecard error, or a regulatory violation that affected the result.

WBN pressed Eric Beidel, Communications & Digital Media Manager for the Department of Professional & Occupational Regulation, on whether any avenue remained to challenge the decision.

“And on that final question … as mentioned before, a decision can only be overturned if there is proven collusion, a scorecard error, or a regulatory violation that affected the results,” Beidel graciously responded after providing WBN with transparent answers throughout the investigation.

“In addition, a complaint about a regulatory violation must be filed within three years of the alleged violation.”

The Colón-Williams fight took place on October 17, 2015, meaning that deadline expired years ago.

Virginia Closes Appeal Route

Virginia’s response also addressed whether the result could instead be challenged through an appeal.

“The Administrative Process Act (APA) does create appeal rights to case decisions, but because DPOR never received a complaint in this instance, there was no case or decision that could be appealed under the APA.”

The deadline for filing a complaint about a regulatory violation has expired, while the absence of an original complaint means there is no case decision available to appeal under the APA.

For WBN, Virginia’s response ends a long fight to have the defeat annulled and removed from Colón’s professional record.

Premier Boxing Champions | PBC on NBC

WBN’s Fight for Prichard Colón

It is no secret that WBN and Prichard were close before the most tragic night of his career ended all contact and left us on the outside for the years leading up to his death.

That never stopped WBN from reporting on Prichard, campaigning for change and hoping lessons from what happened to him could help prevent another fighter and family from enduring the same tragedy.

Virginia’s final response may end WBN’s attempts to have the result changed, but it does not end our commitment to Prichard.

Prichard Colón will not be forgotten.

WBN will continue to keep his name alive whenever and wherever possible with the WBN Boxer Pageand push to ensure his fight for life and everything that happened in its aftermath are never allowed to simply disappear from boxing’s memory.

This investigation ends here, but Prichard’s story does not.


About the Author

Phil Jay is the Editor-in-Chief of World Boxing News (WBN), a BWAA-acknowledged boxing news website founded in 2010. A veteran boxing reporter with 16 years of experience, he has interviewed world champions, broken international exclusives, and reported ringside from major events. His work is published worldwide through WBN and distributed on platforms including Apple News.

Read Phil Jay’s full bio and latest stories.

Continue Reading
Advertisement

OUR NEWSLETTER

Subscribe Us To Receive Our Latest News Directly In Your Inbox!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

Trending