Larry O'Connell RIP

[Floyd the snake]

News coming out retired Referee / Judge Larry has passed away , believe he was 80 .

[MasterG]

thats a shame i liked Larry. The only fight that sticks out for me that I saw was George Foreman v Terry Anderson in London. Im sure i would have seen Larry ref in other live fights ive seen but thats the one i always remember.

RIP

[Old bones Ian]

Good ref, seemed pretty fair to away fighters, let boxers get on and fight.

He reffed Lewis vs Botha , and other WBC title fights, was criticized for his scoring in the first Lewis v Holyfield fight, I actually thought it was an ok score .

[Coco]

Good ref, seemed pretty fair to away fighters, let boxers get on and fight.

He reffed Lewis vs Botha , and other WBC title fights, was criticized for his scoring in the first Lewis v Holyfield fight, I actually thought it was an ok score .

In my experience he was never fair to the away fighter, he knew what side his bread was buttered on

[liamlion]

Cost Lennox Lewis a clear points victory in his first fight with Evander Holyfield. Not cool. A decision that was nothing other than bent.

But nevertheless, sad news, may he rest in peace.

[margaret thatcher]

Good ref, seemed pretty fair to away fighters, let boxers get on and fight.

He reffed Lewis vs Botha , and other WBC title fights, was criticized for his scoring in the first Lewis v Holyfield fight, I actually thought it was an ok score .

In my experience he was never fair to the away fighter, he knew what side his bread was buttered on

He ref some of your fights Cokes?

[Old bones Ian]

Good ref, seemed pretty fair to away fighters, let boxers get on and fight.

He reffed Lewis vs Botha , and other WBC title fights, was criticized for his scoring in the first Lewis v Holyfield fight, I actually thought it was an ok score .

In my experience he was never fair to the away fighter, he knew what side his bread was buttered on

You'd probably know far more than me

[bennie]

One of the greatest referees this country has ever produced and also one of the greatest blokes. As a boxer, boxer, Larry beat the legendary Dick McTaggart in the unpaid ranks, boxed many times for England and reached two ABA finals but he decided against going pro, switching to coaching and eventually to refereeing, where he graduated to the very top. This man did it all and with a smile on his face. The world is a sadder place today.

[banjo]

RIP

How the feck he saw a draw in Lewis v Holyfield 1 though, god knows.

[dalcumly]

I met Larry along with Derek Rowe for lunch around 8 years ago and I think at that time his memory was going a bit. A really lovely guy. I think he might have been diamond setter in Hatton Gardens.
He told me that both him and Dick McTaggart had similar reasons for not turning pro - which I found surprisingly but logical.
They were excellent amateur 'boxers' and incredibly didn't like being punched in the face !!! They both decided against turning over because the fights would have been longer with a greater chance of being punched !!!
Larry knew that if he became a professional he'd start with 6 rounders, then eight , then 10 he he knew he'd have to start taking a lot more punches and it wasn't for him.

[TheLeprechaun]

Cost Lennox Lewis a clear points victory in his first fight with Evander Holyfield. Not cool. A decision that was nothing other than bent.

But nevertheless, sad news, may he rest in peace.

The way Lewis fought that night made it one of the rare occasions I was pretty happy to see someone get robbed.

[THEBUTCH]

Until the Slugger O'Toole v Henry Wharton title fight I thought he was one of our best refs but after that not so much. Definitely a better ref than a judge, his scorecard for Lewis v Holyfield was bad, but let's not forget it was still nowhere near as bad as the judge who had Holyfield winning

Still probably had a lot more good nights than bad ones. It's tough being a referee because you can have 100 flawless performance and a single bad one and you'll most likely be remembered for the bad one !

[Coco]

And let's not speak ill of the dead here, he was a person, a family man, we are talking about a life.
As a referee he achieved a hell of a lot and was a nice guy.
Its not nice to only remember the imperfections, let's celebrate the good things.
Let he without sin throw the first stone etc.
It would be much easier to talk worse about a lot more people
RIP

[prewarboxing]

And let's not speak ill of the dead here, he was a person, a family man, we are talking about a life.
As a referee he achieved a hell of a lot and was a nice guy.
Its not nice to only remember the imperfections, let's celebrate the good things.
Let he without sin throw the first stone etc.
It would be much easier to talk worse about a lot more people
RIP

Well said.

Miles Templeton

[Old bones Ian]

And let's not speak ill of the dead here, he was a person, a family man, we are talking about a life.
As a referee he achieved a hell of a lot and was a nice guy.
Its not nice to only remember the imperfections, let's celebrate the good things.
Let he without sin throw the first stone etc.
It would be much easier to talk worse about a lot more people
RIP

well said mate

[bennie]

I first met Larry at the Lloyd Honeyghan-Don Curry clash in Atlantic City back in 1986 and we sat at the empty bar in Caesar's and chewed the fat. It was nice to run into a friendly face in a sewer of a city, although it was late September and the cool autumn breeze off the sea is made the place fairly tolerable. Larry had just given Welshman Robert Dickie a decision over the fancied John Feeney for the British featherweight title (vacated reluctantly by world champion Barry McGuigan), despite Feeney's links to Mickey Duff on a Duff show at the Albert Hall but Larry was an honest referee and judge. He scored it exactly as he saw it and if that upset others, so be it. Dennie Mancini, Feeney's manager, remonstrated loudly but Dickie had done enough and he trounced Feeney in a rematch, dropping him twice in the process.
Larry was one of the judges for Honeyghan-Curry, set in a small arena within Ceasar's, and witnessed possibly the biggest upset of the entire 1980s as Honeyghan jumped on the unbeaten Curry with right hands and never let him off the hook. Few could believe the one-sided nature of the contest and the fighters and ex-fighters in attendance (Sean O'Grady, Mike McCallum, Buster Drayton, Mark Breland, Jimmy Ellis, Jersey Joe Walcott...) and the American media all looked as stunned as Team Curry but Honeyghan had been in blistering form over the previous 18 months and he peaked as a fighter on the night (to me), trained by Bobby Neill. I spotted Darren Dyer in the audience, who had sparred Lloyd, Mike Barrett, Des Lynham, Peter Moss, Jim Watt, Reg Gutteridge, Colin Hart... It was a different era, when boxing could make the front page of a newspaper and TV screened fights free and often live. There was no cable over here.
I ran into Larry again a few times and the man always impressed me as one of the good guys in a rotten sport. He received death threats for his scoring in the first Lennox Lewis-Evander Holyfield fight, a fight Harry Mullan also made desperately close. Lewis was a lazy fighter who took few chances, much like Slugger O'Toole in his 12-rounder with Henry Wharton when those at ringside had no problem with Wharton's win, unswayed by TV commentary. Ultimately, Larry played a fair game as a boxer, referee and judge and for those who say he got it wrong a couple of times, he got it right a million more.

[Coco]

Pat Cowdell told me that O'Connell had said he thought Lewis won and was surprised when he totted up his card to see he scored it a draw!

[Muttley]

R I P Mr O'Connell
I had many a chat with Larry in the old days, a true gentleman and a very good referee. He was old school, just wish there were a few more Larry's playing third man these days.

[evrenb]

I have only just heard of Larry's passing. Very sad to learn this. For those of my age he was part of the mosaic that made boxing what it was in the 1980's and 1990's. Our family was friends with his brother Brian O'Connell who ran a butchers in Kent. Though we lost touch after my dad passed away.
RIP Boxing legend and thanks for being part of a great boxing generation

[Arnie.]

R. I. P Larry x