R.I.P. Steve ‘Double-S’ Smoger, Boxing’s Most-Traveled Referee

Published

2 years ago

December 20, 2022

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If referees boogied toward the ring to the sound of their own entrance music, as all reasonably relevant fighters do now, the logical guess is that referee Steve “Double-S” Smoger’s signature song would be Ricky Nelson’s 1961 hit, Travelin’ Man. Whether he was the third man in the ring for 185 or 200-plus world championship bouts (both figures have been cited for historical purposes) spread over 34 years, the Atlantic City-based Smoger liked to point out he was the referee whose passport was the most-stamped ever for those in his profession, with many U.S. states also on his long list of visited places whereby he could break clinches.

“I like to work, wherever and whenever,” the mustachioed Smoger, who passed away Monday (Dec. 19) after a long illness, once told me of his wanderlust, or all-encompassing career dedication, however one might choose to describe his paid appearances on five continents and countless cities therein where he informed fighters to adhere to his inalterable set of rules, in an emphatic enough manner that somehow never got lost in translation.

“It had to help,” Larry Hazzard, longtime head of the New Jersey State Board of Athletic Control, said of Smoger’s penchant for remaining basically the same high-grade professional whether he was working a show where the customs and customers might be far different from what he was used to as a young ref learning the ropes, as it were. “Variety is certainly a very important aspect of anyone’s learning. The varied experiences you have just give you more tools in your tool box. If you work only in one environment you might be good in that setting, but if something happens that’s kind of outside the norm, you might not be equipped to handle it.

“The more work that officials can get, the better you expect them to be. The mother of retention is repetition. Smoger, in my opinion, was a very good referee and through the years he was always receptive to constructive criticism. I think that’s what made him even better.”

Like the precise number of boxing matches he officiated, more than 1,000 all told, the matter of “Double-S’s” age also might be a matter of some debate. Various sources, including Wikipedia, cite his date of birth as Aug. 15, 1950, in Norfolk, Va., which would make him 72 at his time of death in Atlantic City. But Hazzard, a stickler for accuracy in all fight-related matters, notified Henry Hascup, president of the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame who keeps track of all deaths involving boxing figures of all stripes, that Ancestry.com lists Smoger as having made his entrance into the world on Aug. 15, 1943, which would make him 79 for his departure date. That figure seemingly is confirmed by Hascup, who was able to track down a high school yearbook photo of Smoger as a senior in 1961.

At whatever age, however, Smoger, seemingly was predestined to become embroiled in a lifelong love affair with the pugilistic arts. He often spoke of watching fights on the old Gillette Cavalcade of Sports Friday Night Fights with his father, a rite of passage for many kids in post-World War II America, and how much it meant to him for dad and son to travel together to Philadelphia for the Sept. 23, 1952, heavyweight championship pairing in which Jersey Joe Walcott yielded his title to Rocky Marciano on a 13^th-round knockout. Somewhat ironically, it was Jersey Joe, then commissioner of the NJSACB, who issued Smoger his first referee’s license 30 years later, in 1982, when he was 32, or maybe 39.

Some might say that Smoger was a bit of a self-promoter, but a bit of flair can help to elevate otherwise competent referees above those whose demeanor, if overly bland, do little to designate this or that fight as a major event. Smoger’s giddy donning of his “Double-S” persona was hardly different from the “Let’s get it on!” catchphrase of another internationally known referee, Mills Lane, who was 85 when he passed away earlier this month, or the “I’m firm but I’m fair” Joe Cortez.

“Steve probably was popular enough to have had fans of his own,” said Alan Rubinstein, a Senior Court Judge in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in addition to being a boxing judge who observed Smoger’s work from ringside on numerous occasions. “Most referees don’t have aficionados. But Steve Smoger was `Double-S,’ and he received, if not international attention (he did), then national attention. He was sort of the fair-haired darling of HBO when he refereed fights for Boxing After Dark. They always talked, on those broadcasts, about what a great ref he was.”

The flip side, of course, is that a referee can be excoriated if he has a bad night, even permanently so if that person has too many of them. The proof is in the pudding of how well Smoger did his job; he was enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame in the Non-Participant category in 2015, in addition to also being elected to the New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Atlantic City Boxing Halls of Fame. Honors such as those don’t flow so freely and frequently to anyone whose only distinguishing characteristic is a bit of shtick.

It should be noted that Smoger did have a life beyond the ring, and at which he also made a mark. He served as a member of the New Jersey Air National Guard and the United States Air Force Reserve, holding the position of Staff Judge Advocate and obtaining the rank of colonel until he retired after 30 years of service. At all times, however, he never considered his boxing duties to be a hobby or a side gig.

“Steve and I had an ancillary connection,” Rubinstein noted. “He was a district magistrate in New Jersey and I’m a judge in Pennsylvania, so we had a common interest. I remember he said to me years ago that there was allegedly a conflict between his duties as a magistrate and his duties as a boxing referee, although I didn’t see it. To me, it would have been clear that I’d have to give up boxing because I wanted to stay on the bench. He did just the opposite. He gave up his magisterial job so he could continue to be a referee. He was given a choice, and he made the choice I don’t think I would have made.”

Being a district magistrate in Jersey, however, wasn’t likely to keep Smoger’s passport book inked to a fare-thee-well. I remember how excited he was to describe what he said was his first major overseas refereeing assignment, which pitted Simon Brown against Tyrone Trice for the vacant IBF welterweight championship on April 22, 1988, in Berck-Sur-Mer, France, not far from where the greatest amphibious landings in the annals of warfare took place on June 6, 1944, on the beaches of Normandy. Brown and Trice waged a reasonable facsimile of the celebrated welterweight unification showdown of Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns, Brown finally emerging victorious on a 14^th-round stoppage.

Smoger, the military man part of him, was honored to work a fight so close to the Longest Day beginning of the end of World War II in the European theater, but also to work a great boxing match that was a microcosm of all that the sport sometimes can be.

“What I remember is the resiliency of those guys,” Smoger told me, as excited to remember what had been as he was to work any of the countless other fights he considered to be such an integral part of his own identity. “Simon knocked down Tyrone, what, three times in the 12^th, and Tyrone never fully recuperated. Still, he was able to give a credible account of himself until the stoppage in the 14^th.”

It is now time for the traditional 10-count bell for the man who forever will be known as “Double-S.”

Bernard Fernandez, named to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in the Observer category with the Class of 2020, was the recipient of numerous awards for writing excellence during his 28-year career as a sports writer for the Philadelphia Daily News. Fernandez’s first book, “Championship Rounds,” a compendium of previously published material, was released in May of last year. The sequel, “Championship Rounds, Round 2,” with a foreword by Jim Lampley, is currently out. His third boxing anthology, “Championship Rounds, Round 3,” is now out and available from Amazon and other book-selling outlets.

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Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh

Published

23 hours ago

December 21, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh

Oleksandr Usyk left no doubt that he is the best heavyweight of his generation and one of the greatest boxers of all time with a unanimous decision over Tyson Fury tonight at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. But although the Ukrainian won eight rounds on all three scorecards, this was no runaway. To pirate a line from one of the DAZN talking heads, Fury had his moments in every round but Usyk had more moments.

The early rounds were fought at a faster pace than the first meeting back in May. At the mid-point, the fight was even. The next three rounds – the next five to some observers – were all Usyk who threw more punches and landed the cleaner shots.

Fury won the final round in the eyes of this reporter scoring at home, but by then he needed a knockout to pull the match out of the fire.

The last round was an outstanding climax to an entertaining chess match during which both fighters took turns being the pursuer and the pursued.

An Olympic gold medalist and a unified world champion at cruiserweight and heavyweight, the amazing Usyk improved his ledger to 23-0 (14). His next fight, more than likely, will come against the winner of the Feb. 22 match in Ridayh between Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker which will share the bill with the rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.

Fury (34-2-1) may fight Anthony Joshua next. Regardless, no one wants a piece of Moses Itauma right now although the kid is only 19 years old.

Moses Itauma

Raised in London by a Nigerian father and a Slovakian mother, Itauma turned heads once again with another “wow” performance. None of his last seven opponents lasted beyond the second round.

His opponent tonight, 34-year-old Australian Demsey McKean, lasted less than two minutes. Itauma, a southpaw with blazing fast hands, had the Aussie on the deck twice during the 117-second skirmish. The first knockdown was the result of a cuffing punch that landed high on the head; the second knockdown was produced by an overhand left. McKean went down hard as his chief cornerman bounded on to the ring apron to halt the massacre.

Photo (c): Mark Robinson

Itauma (12-0, 10 KOs after going 20-0 as an amateur) is the real deal. It was the second straight loss for McKean (22-2) who lasted into the 10^th round against Filip Hrgovic in his last start.

Bohachuk-Davis

In a fight billed as the co-main although it preceded Itauma-McKean, Serhii Bohachuk, an LA-based Ukrainian, stopped Ishmael Davis whose corner pulled him out after six frames.

Both fighters were coming off a loss in fights that were close on the scorecards, Bohachuk falling to Vergil Ortiz Jr in a Las Vegas barnburner and Davis losing to Josh Kelly.

Davis, who took the fight on short notice, subbing for Ismail Madrimov, declined to 13-2. He landed a few good shots but was on the canvas in the second round, compliments of a short left hook, and the relentless Bohachuk (25-2, 24 KOs) eventually wore him down.

Fisher-Allen

In a messy, 10-round bar brawl masquerading as a boxing match, Johnny Fisher, the Romford Bull, won a split decision over British countryman David Allen. Two judges favored Fisher by 95-94 tallies with the dissenter favoring Allen 96-93. When the scores were announced, there was a chorus of boos and those watching at home were outraged.

Allen was a step up in class for Fisher. The Doncaster man had a decent record (23-5-2 heading in) and had been routinely matched tough (his former opponents included Dillian Whyte, Luis “King Kong” Ortiz and three former Olympians). But Allen was fairly considered no more than a journeyman and Fisher (12-0 with 11 KOs, eight in the opening round) was a huge favorite.

In round five, Allen had Fisher on the canvas twice although only one was ruled a true knockdown. From that point, he landed the harder shots and, at the final bell, he fell to canvas shedding tears of joy, convinced that he had won.

He did not win, but he exposed Johnny Fisher as a fighter too slow to compete with elite heavyweights, a British version of the ponderous Russian-Canadian campaigner Arslanbek Makhmudov.

Other Bouts of Note

In a spirited 10-round featherweight match, Scotland’s Lee McGregor, a former European bantamweight champion and stablemate of former unified 140-pound title-holder Josh Taylor, advanced to 15-1-1 (11) with a unanimous decision over Isaac Lowe (25-3-3). The judges had it 96-92 and 97-91 twice.

A cousin and regular houseguest of Tyson Fury, Lowe fought most of the fight with cuts around both eyes and was twice deducted a point for losing his gumshield.

In a fight between super featherweights that could have gone either way, Liverpool southpaw Peter McGrail improved to 11-1 (6) with a 10-round unanimous decision over late sub Rhys Edwards. The judges had it 96-95 and 96-94 twice.

McGrail, a Tokyo Olympian and 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medalist, fought from the third round on with a cut above his right eye, the result of an accidental clash of heads. It was the first loss for Edwards (16-1), a 24-year-old Welshman who has another fight booked in three weeks.

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Fury-Usyk Reignited: Can the Gypsy King Avenge his Lone Defeat?

Published

2 days ago

December 20, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Fury-Usyk Reignited: Can the Gypsy King Avenge his Lone Defeat?

In professional boxing, the heavyweight division, going back to the days of John L. Sullivan, is the straw that stirs the drink. By this measure, the fight on May 18 of this year at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was the biggest prizefight in decades. The winner would emerge as the first undisputed heavyweight champion since 1999 when Lennox Lewis out-pointed Evander Holyfield in their second meeting.

The match did not disappoint. It had several twists and turns.

Usyk did well in the early rounds, but the Gypsy King rattled Usyk with a harsh right hand in the fifth stanza and won rounds five through seven on all three cards. In the ninth, the match turned sharply in favor of the Ukrainian. Fury was saved by the bell after taking a barrage of unanswered punches, the last of which dictated a standing 8-count from referee Mark Nelson. But Fury weathered the storm and with his amazing powers of recuperation had a shade the best of it in the final stanza.

The decision was split: 115-112 and 114-113 for Usyk who became a unified champion in a second weight class; 114-113 for Fury.

That brings us to tomorrow (Saturday, Dec. 21) where Usyk and Fury will renew acquaintances in the same ring where they had their May 18 showdown.

The first fight was a near “pick-‘em” affair with Fury closing a very short favorite at most of the major bookmaking establishments. The Gypsy King would have been a somewhat higher favorite if not for the fact that he was coming off a poor showing against MMA star Francis Ngannou and had a worrisome propensity for getting cut. (A cut above Fury’s right eye in sparring pushed back the fight from its original Feb. 11 date.)

Tomorrow’s sequel, bearing the tagline “Reignited,” finds Usyk a consensus 7/5 favorite although those odds could shorten by post time. (There was no discernible activity after today’s weigh-in where Fury, fully clothed, topped the scales at 281, an increase of 19 pounds over their first meeting.)

Given the politics of boxing, anything “undisputed” is fragile. In June, Usyk abandoned his IBF belt and the organization anointed Daniel Dubois their heavyweight champion based upon Dubois’s eighth-round stoppage of Filip Hrgovic in a bout billed for the IBF interim title. The malodorous WBA, a festering boil on the backside of boxing, now recognizes 43-year-old Kubrat Pulev as its “regular” heavyweight champion.

Another difference between tomorrow’s fight card and the first installment is that the May 18 affair had a much stronger undercard. Two strong pairings were the rematch between cruiserweights Jai Opetaia and Maris Briedis (Opetaia UD 12) and the heavyweight contest between unbeatens Agit Kabayal and Frank Sanchez (Kabayel KO 7).

Tomorrow’s semi-wind-up between Serhii Bohachuk and Ismail Madrimov lost luster when Madrimov came down with bronchitis and had to withdraw. The featherweight contest between Peter McGrail and Dennis McCann fell out when McCann’s VADA test returned an adverse finding. Bohachuk and McGrail remain on the card but against late-sub opponents in matches that are less intriguing.

The focal points of tomorrow’s undercard are the bouts involving undefeated British heavyweights Moses Itauma (10-0, 8 KOs) and Johnny Fisher (12-0, 11 KOs). Both are heavy favorites over their respective opponents but bear watching because they represent the next generation of heavyweight standouts. Fury and Usyk are getting long in the tooth. The Gypsy King is 36; Usyk turns 38 next month.

Bob Arum once said that nobody purchases a pay-per-view for the undercard and, years from now, no one will remember which sanctioning bodies had their fingers in the pie. So, Fury-Usyk II remains a very big deal, although a wee bit less compelling than their first go-around.

Will Tyson Fury avenge his lone defeat? Turki Alalshikh, the Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority and the unofficial czar of “major league” boxing, certainly hopes so. His Excellency has made known that he stands poised to manufacture a rubber match if Tyson prevails.

We could have already figured this out, but Alalshikh violated one of the protocols of boxing when he came flat out and said so. He effectively made Tyson Fury the “A-side,” no small potatoes considering that the most relevant variable on the checklist when handicapping a fight is, “Who does the promoter need?”

The Uzyk-Fury II fight card will air on DAZN with a suggested list price of $39.99 for U.S. fight fans. The main event is expected to start about 5:45 pm ET / 2:45 pm PT.

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Unheralded Bruno Surace went to Tijuana and Forged the TSS 2024 Upset of the Year

Published

3 days ago

December 19, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Unheralded Bruno Surace went to Tijuana and Forged the TSS 2024 Upset of the Year

The Dec. 14 fight at Tijuana between Jaime Munguia and Bruno Surace was conceived as a stay-busy fight for Munguia. The scuttlebutt was that Munguia’s promoters, Zanfer and Top Rank, wanted him to have another fight under his belt before thrusting him against Christian Mbilli in a WBC eliminator with the prize for the winner (in theory) a date with Canelo Alvarez.

Munguia came to the fore in May of 2018 at Verona, New York, when he demolished former U.S. Olympian Sadam Ali, conqueror of Miguel Cotto. That earned him the WBO super welterweight title which he successfully defended five times.

Munguia kept winning as he moved up in weight to middleweight and then super middleweight and brought a 43-0 (34) record into his Cinco de Mayo 2024 match with Canelo.

Jaime went the distance with Alvarez and had a few good moments while losing a unanimous decision. He rebounded with a 10th-round stoppage of Canada’s previously undefeated Erik Bazinyan.

There was little reason to think that Munguia would overlook Surace as the Mexican would be fighting in his hometown for the first time since February of 2022 and would want to send the home folks home happy. Moreover, even if Munguia had an off-night, there was no reason to think that the obscure Surace could capitalize. A Frenchman who had never fought outside France, Surace brought a 25-0-2 record and a 22-fight winning streak, but he had only four knockouts to his credit and only eight of his wins had come against opponents with winning records.

It appeared that Munguia would close the show early when he sent the Frenchman to the canvas in the second round with a big left hook. From that point on, Surace fought mostly off his back foot, throwing punches in spurts, whereas the busier Munguia concentrated on chopping him down with body punches. But Surace absorbed those punches well and at the midway point of the fight, behind on the cards but nonplussed, it now looked as if the bout would go the full 10 rounds with Munguia winning a lopsided decision.

Then lightning struck. Out of the blue, Surace connected with an overhand right to the jaw. Munguia went down flat on his back. He rose a fraction-of-a second before the count reached “10,”, but stumbled as he pulled himself upright. His eyes were glazed and referee Juan Jose Ramirez, a local man, waived it off. There was no protest coming from Munguia or his cornermen. The official time was 2:36 of round six.

At major bookmaking establishments, Jaime Munguia was as high as a 35/1 favorite. No world title was at stake, yet this was an upset for the ages.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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