South African Boxing Act, 2001 (Act No. 11 of 2001)RegulationsBoxing Regulations, 200427. Referee |
| (1) | The referee shall be the chief official during a bout and he or she shall take up his or her position in the ring and exercise general supervision over the bout. |
| (2) | The referee must wear surgical gloves, as approved by Boxing SA, at all times during a bout and shall carry a small clean towel to wipe off the boxer’s gloves after a knock-down or slip to the floor. |
| (3) | Only the referee may inform the announcer of the decision of the outcome of the bout to be announced. |
| (4) | During a fight, whether in the course of a round or during an interval between rounds, a referee shall not converse with any person in the audience, and he or she may not criticise in public any decision given by the judges. |
| (5) | A referee may not exhibit to or discuss with the public the scorecards handed to him or her, but in the case of a world title fight or an elimination fight for a world title or in the case of any other bout if so directed by Boxing SA, the points allocated for the fight, as a whole by the individual judges, and by the referee if he or she keeps a scorecard, shall, subject to subregulation (4),be announced by the announcer to the public from the ring immediately after the bout. |
| (6) | The referee shall— |
| (a) | prior to the start of a bout— |
| (i) | establish that each boxer’s seconds are duly registered as such with Boxing SA and if they are not he shall request them to-leave the boxer’s corner; |
| (ii) | ascertain the name of each boxer’s chief second and inform them that he or she holds them responsible for the conduct of their assistants during the bout and for the proper tying on of the gloves; and |
| (iii) | ensure that the provisions of regulations 22 and 23(1) have been duly complied with; |
| (b) | during the bout— |
| (i) | whenever necessary, by issuing the command "stop!", order a cessation of boxing during a round and, thereafter, by the command "box on!" order a resumption of boxing, and he or she shall ensure that during each stoppage the boxer or boxers remain standing in the ring without any support whatsoever; |
| (ii) | with the command "break!", order the boxers to separate when in a clinch and, at his or her discretion, separate them himself or herself should they fail to obey promptly, but the referee shall not tap the gloves or arms of the boxers while they are in a clinch; |
| (iii) | accept a boxer’s acknowledgement of defeat if he or she is unable to resume boxing at the timekeeper’s signal or turns his or her back on his or her opponent during the bout or signals in some other manner to the referee that he or she does not wish to continue with the bout; |
| (iv) | stop the bout if he or she considers it to be one-sided even though a boxer has not at that stage sustained excessive punishment, and award the fight to the best boxer; |
| (v) | subject to the provisions of regulation 35(11), stop the fight if a boxer is accidentally disabled or unable to defend himself or herself and award the fight to his or her opponent; |
| (vi) | if a boxer goes down, order the opponent to retire to the furthest neutral corner, by pointing to that corner, and while leaning over the boxer who is down, he or she shall start counting each second audibly up to nine and indicate the tenth second as well as the end of the fight with the word "out", and award the fight to the opponent if by that time the boxer who is down has not arisen: Provided that should a boxer go down as a result of a blow and gets up, the referee shall give him a mandatory count of eight before ordering the boxer to continue boxing, and— |
| (aa) | a boxer who was down may not resume boxing until the referee has finished counting eight; |
| (bb) | a boxer may take the count either on the ring floor or standing; and |
| (cc) | if a boxer rises during the count, the referee must satisfy himself or herself that the boxer is in a position to defend himself or herself before ordering the contestants to "box on"; |
| (vii) | should a boxer go down and claim that he or she has been hit below the belt by a blow that the referee did not see, shall count up to ten but shall not pronounce the word "out", upon which he or she shall consult the judger; and thereafter give his or her decision; |
| (viii) | stop the fight when a boxer goes down three times in the same round as a result (of legal blows; |
| (ix) | should a boxer go down without being hit, or go down and remain down after having been hit and the referee is of the opinion that such boxer is or remains down without just cause, count to ten, but shall not pronounce the word "out" and shall disqualify the boxer; |
| (x) | stop the fight and at his or her discretion either warn or disqualify a boxer if the boxer commits any of the acts constituting unlawful conduct and behaviour in terms of regulation 37, and in the event of a disqualification, award the decision in the favour of that boxer's opponent; |
| (xi) | stop the fight if he or she is of the opinion that one or both of the boxers are not boxing to the best of their ability, in which case he or she shall disqualify one or both of the boxers; |
| (xii) | where a boxer is knocked through the ropes and out of the ring, grant that boxer twenty seconds to re-enter the ring unassisted and if the boxer fails to do so declare that boxer the loser by knockout; |
| (xiii) | where a boxer is knocked down during any round and while the referee is counting the bell or gong indicates the end of the round, irrespective of which round it is, continue to count until he "or she calls "out" or the boxer rises, whichever happens first; |
| (xiv) | where the boxers go down at the same time, continue to count so long as one is still down: Provided that if both boxers remain down until the count equals "out", the referee shall stop the- bout and declare it a draw; |
| (xv) | stop the fight if a boxer's chief second throws the towel into the ring signifying the retirement of the boxer; |
| (xvi) | before a boxer may resume boxing after having been knocked down, fallen down or slipped to the ring floor, wipe any accumulated resin from the boxer's gloves with a damp towel or the referee's shirt; |
| (xvii) | if a boxer loses his or her mouth protector during the round, replace it as soon as there is a lull in the action; |
| (xviii) | decide on the interpretation of any matter concerning the fight not expressly provided for in these regulations; |
| (c) | after the fight— |
| (i) | immediately hand the judges' scorecards to the supervisory official; and |
| (ii) | in the case of a disqualification, report thereon in writing to Boxing SA within 36 hours of such occurrence. |
| (7) | Referees shall complete a course in the medical aspects of boxing, which course shall be run annually by Boxing SA in consultation with Boxing SA'S medical affairs portfolio committee. |
| (8) | A referee may consult with the judges before rendering a final decision. |
| (9) | A referee may not leave the ring until the bout has been completed and the decision has been announced. |
| (10) | Referees must comply with the code of ethics for referees and judges that may be prescribed by Boxing SA from time to time. |
| (11) | Boxing SA shall ensure that a referee is subjected to a medical and fitness test on a regular basis, but at least once per annum. |
| (12) | No licencee shall verbally or physically abuse a referee. |
| (13) |
| (a) | It shall be the duty of the supervisory official at a tournament to evaluate and grade each referee’s performance in each bout over which he or she presides. |
| (b) | The grade contemplated in paragraph (a) shall either be satisfactory or unsatisfactory and shall be determined by considering such factors as the referee’s ability to exercise effective control over the bout, his or her knowledge and application of the rules and his or her due regard for the medical safety of the boxers. |
| (c) | Where the supervisory official grades the referee as unsatisfactory he or she must give written reasons therefor. |
| (d) | The grade and the accompanying reasons must be submitted to Boxing SA after the bout. |
| (e) | A supervisory official must not disclose or discuss his or her report with the referee or any other person. |
| (14) |
| (a) | If an unsatisfactory grading is submitted for a referee pursuant to subregulation (13), Boxing SA shall notify the referee thereof in writing and shall furnish him or her with a copy of the supervisory official’s report. |
| (b) | Boxing SA shall, after complying with paragraph (a), hold a hearing to determine what steps should be taken against the referee. |
| (c) | Pending the outcome of a hearing contemplated in paragraph (b), the referee may not officiate in another contest as referee. |
| (15) | If a referee becomes incapacitated and is unable to finish refereeing a boxing contest, the timekeeper shall stop the clock and the supervisory official shall appoint another referee to referee the contest. Provided that in such event the substitute referee shall continue the round from the time that the clock was stopped by the timekeeper. |