Referee far too intrusive in big fight

I saw two scuffles breaking out on the side streets leading from the Principality Stadium to the main drag in Cardiff, but unfortunately there were no police around to break them up. Ironic, then, that in the stadium itself, the fight that everyone had come to watch, and millions had paid to see on television, was broken up pretty much every time it threatened to ignite.

This was a bout that took Anthony Joshua to a 21st victory, but will be remembered, by many, for Giuseppe Quartarone, the Italian referee, who could not see the two men come to blows on the inside without feeling an itch to dive into the middle of the action, have a word with the fighters, make a stern point or two, and cause everyone to wonder if he had had a flutter on the bout lasting the distance.

This could have been a showcase for the sweet science. The trains down to Cardiff were packed with fans. The walk from the station to the Principality Stadium was full of colour, with New Zealand supporters conducting multiple haka, Joshua fans good-naturedly heckling them, and much of the indigenous population intoxicated by the tumult. ‘‘It’s bigger than any rugby game in years,’’ a taxi driver told me.

The stadium itself was at capacity, astonishing when you consider that, for the fans at the back, the ring must have seemed like a postage stamp. Big screens were draped from the ceiling. Ringside, it was like being in the middle of a whirlwind.

What nobody realised is that the action would be so comprehensively thwarted by the chap in the white shirt and black bow tie, introduced by announcer Michael Buffer as ‘‘highly experienced’’. Joseph Parker, a skilful boxer with plenty of heart, could not get into close quarters without being pulled away. At one point, half the stadium got to its feet when a left hook connected, the fighters toe to toe, a moment when you felt that the subsequent exchange might prove critical, only for Quartarone to dive between the two men, like Moses parting the Red Sea.

‘‘When one guy has a 74in reach and the other guy has 84 or 85, it’s very important for us when we do close the distance that we are able to work,’’ Kevin Barry, Parker’s trainer, said after the bout. ‘‘Unfortunately for us, the referee just didn’t allow us to do that.’’

There are two types of arbiters: referees and umpires in sport. There are those who recognise that they are subordinate to the action; that sport is about the athletes; that umpires are bit-part players, albeit important ones, whose job is to interpret the rules to the best of their ability. These are typically the best refs.

The other type of referee is intoxicated by power, like a bouncer at a dodgy nightclub. They enjoy being at the centre of the action.

This latter tendency is dangerous because it leads arbiters to not merely interpret the action but to intrude upon it. ‘‘In his amazing ability to prevent a fight breaking out, that referee was definitely in the wrong bit of Cardiff,’’ one said on Twitter. ‘‘Just tried to kiss my wife goodnight but the #Joshuaparker referee just jumped in and stopped me,’’ said another. ‘‘That referee could separate Wenger and Arsenal,’’ said a third.

Some will point out, rightly, that refereeing is a difficult skill, particularly under the lights of a world championship fight. Referees can be too slow to intervene. But this does not provide mitigation for the serial incompetence of Quartarone, who seemed psychologically incapable of letting the action breathe. It did not seem to be concern about the boxers, because many interventions separated the fighters before they had come to blows, not afterwards.

One also wonders whether he may have been disadvantaged by allegedly not speaking fluent English.

Joshua’s journey continues. As for Quartarone, one hopes he will learn from one of the poorer refereeing performances of recent years.