Referee Tony Weeks’ status must be considered in an open, public forum as soon as possible given the controversy Weeks ignited Sunday with a post on Facebook regrading the fitness of Fredrick Lawson to be fighting on Saturday. A long-time boxing referee and MMA judge with the Nevada Athletic Commission, Weeks stopped the main event of Saturday’s Golden Boy Promotions show between Lawson and Vergil Ortiz Jr. at the Virgin Hotel seemingly way too early.
Ortiz won by technical knockout at 2:33 of the first round. Ortiz threw a combination at Lawson, who put his hands high to protect his head. Ortiz landed several punches to the head and body, but Lawson did not seem to be in jeopardy. Weeks, though, inexplicably jumped in to stop it, giving the knockout victory to Ortiz, who is now 20-0 with 20 KOs.
That, though, wasn’t the big problem, though it is something that needs to be addressed. On Sunday, Weeks posted — and later deleted after he created a social media firestorm — a statement on his Facebook page. It alleged that Lawson was twice found to have had an aneurysm and that a third, unidentified doctor examined Lawson and said there was no aneurysm, thus clearing Lawson to fight.
A post from referee Tony Weeks’ Facebook page which he later deleted. That post would explain Weeks’ actions of seemingly stepping in far too early to stop the fight. But it was a gross breach of judgment and should lead to some sort of disciplinary action against Weeks. Weeks created a situation in which he invited the public to impugn the integrity of the Nevada Athletic Commission while he also released what is supposed to be private information about an athlete’s health.
Multiple sources told keviniole.com that Weeks’ post was factually inaccurate and that Lawson did not have an aneurysm. He was, in fact, fit to fight, those sources insisted.
Golden Boy released a statement Sunday correctly noting Lawson was cleared by the commission, which is often lauded as one of the leaders in pursuing safety measures for athletes.
