“If he didn’t do it, it could have probably been a lot worse. Kudos to Bruce for stopping the fight. I could have kept fighting to my last breath because that’s how we are as fighters. It could have been wrong, until you die in the ring but for Bruce maybe he thought it was the right time to do it and he did. He’s a good quality referee and I give him a big thumbs up because God knows if I kept going to my last breath what would have happened.”
Those are the highly intelligent words of former world champion Brian “Hawaiian Punch” Viloria, speaking to Pinoy boxing newshound Ronnie Nathanielsz, in appreciation of the professionalism of veteran referee Bruce McTavish.
To put it a bit more colloquially, McTavish seen his job and he done it.
The longtime Filipino resident properly stopped Viloria’s Manila title defense against unheralded Carlos Tamara when the local hero was completely spent and taking a battering.
As he waved the fight off, with just 1:45 left in the 12th and final round, Viloria trainer and ex-world champ Robert Garcia automatically complained.
“I understood that,” McTavish told me by telephone Friday. “I knew what Robert was saying. He said there was only 1:45 to go but there is no clock in my head when a fighter’s life is on the line. You can get killed in just 10 seconds.
Ref McTavish makes a point while speaking to perennial heavyweight contender David “Tuaman” Tua and trainer Roger Bloodworth (Pacland)
“I certainly did not take umbrage with the Viloria camp. The adrenaline is flowing for all concerned at that point and emotions run high.”
McTavish, whose next third man assignment is slated for China, joked with his wife that there were no long lasting gripes about the stoppage.
New champ Carlos Tamara whales away on Brian Viloria
“I told her, ‘I feel cheated,’ McTavish said. “I said, ‘No one is complaining now.'”
Thankfully, unlike seriously injured Pinoy comrade Z Gorres, Viloria did not tarry long in a hospital.
He and his fiance are set to return to Hawaii Saturday and, when he is done relaxing, Viloria has some serious thinking to do.
Should he move up in weight? Does he need a long sabbatical from the ring? Or should he count his blessings and his ring earnings and pack it in?
McTavish said it’s a decision that only Viloria, in consultation with his girlfriend, with Garcia and with manager Gary Gittlesohn, must make
The referee’s only counsel is for Viloria not to rush to judgement in any direction.
“Brian was fighting great. Fighting at home, he wanted to be the superhero. He won the first eight rounds and exhausted himself.
“I make no recommendation other than to say that Brian carefully consider his situation and ask whether he should stick with boxing or go on to something else. He’s an intelligent boy with some education behind him. He needs to sit back and reevaluate it all,” McTavish said.
“There’s a psychological aspect involved. He will recover physically but he must sit and look at everything in balance such as what money he has in the bank and what else he may want to do in the future.”
McTavish asks for no applause and takes no bows for simply doing his job.
If nothing else, the Viloria scare reminded him–as it should remind us all–of the awesome responsibility every referee undertakes.
“I saw Brian was running out of steam and it could have been different if it was only a 10-rounder but it wasn’t. At the time I stopped it, I felt as though I had Brian’s life in my hands so I did what I had to do.”
No more, no less.
McTavish, let it be said again, he seen his job and he done it.
Mabuhay ka McTavish!
