WBO boss eases fears over referee

World Boxing Organisation vicepresident John Duggan says New Zealanders should have no fears of a British bias in Joseph Parker’s world heavyweight title defence against Hughie Fury in Manchester.

The referee and officials has been a hot topic in the leadup to the fight with Parker’s camp unhappy at Britain’s Terry O’Connor being in charge given his recent history with Fury.

Their protests eventually saw fellow Brit Marcus McDonnell replace O’Connor, who moves to the three-man judging panel where he joins two Americans.

Duggan, who was brought in as the fight supervisor in a WBO move to ease tensions, rates McDonnell highly and says the British Board of Control, as the licensed authority, controls the fight.

‘‘You don’t go to St Andrews and tell them how to appreciate a golf match do you?’’ Duggan used as an example.

‘‘The British quite correctly feel they invented the sport of professional boxing. I was once reminded that if it weren’t for the BBBoC, ‘boxing would be two drunk Irishman in a bar and you’d probably be one of them’.’’

Duggan said the situation wasn’t unusual.

‘‘Every commission wants to have one of their licensed referees be the referee in charge of a bout. We requested independent officials because the promoters negotiated it. But we have exceptionally good officials.

‘‘Marcus McDonnell is one of the best referees in the world. He is immensely fair, he will let the boxers fight, he will give them proper leadership, he will not interfere with the bout.

‘‘Terry O’Connor is completely integrous and very capable. All four of the officials are world-class officials.

‘‘We don’t want them to be dedicated to the BBoC, we don’t want them to have allegiance to the WBO, we want ring officials to have their sole allegiance to the integrity of the world contest and that’s the commitment they make.

‘‘We want our referee to let Joseph Parker and Hughie Fury decide the fight ... in the ring where it should be decided.’’

Duggan rated the British training of boxing officials ‘‘the best in the world’’.