Interview Dated March 2007

Referee/Judge Ronnie Ralston

Ronnie Ralston is one of the most recognizable figures on the Houston Boxing Scene. He should be. Now at the age of 67 he has refereed and judge more than two thousand fights over the last 20 years.


HBS - How did you get involved in the fight game?

RR - A friend of mine was a promoter and he asked me if I would be his ring announcer, Bob Peebley, and so I started out as a ring announcer and I was coming to all the fights, Joesphine Abercrombie's fights and Bobby Gonzales and Barry Yates, my fellow referee friends over here, they started working with me and training me and I ended up judging, refereeing, ring announcer, timekeeper.

HBS - That was all here in Houston?

RR - Houston, Texas.

HBS - A lot of fights you've done have been televised nationally. I remember seeing you on T.V. long before I ever met you in person. What would you say is the biggest fight you've ever reffed?

RR - I did a Frank Tate one time. He fought at the Summit one time, A guy out of California. Frank was the middleweight champion of the world at one time, and then I judged his fight against Lindell Holmes in New Orleans after that. I judged Mike Tyson's fight when he fought Eddie Richardson here in Houston, Texas. Barry Yates was the referee and I was one of the judges. Tyson knocked out Eddie Richardson in the second round and they asked Eddie if he had ever been hit that hard before and he said one time as a kid he got hit that hard. They said what was it and he said a dump truck. (laughs)...

HBS - Do you have another job?

RR - I sell contract office furniture. This is something I do on the side. You can't make a living at this. This is something you do because you have a high interest in it, you love boxing and you do it for the camarederie and the exercise and the fellowship.

HBS - Obviously as a ref in there you're keeping in pretty good shape, you've got to move around and stay out of the way of the fighters.

RR - Yeah, you don't want to be the one that gets tired in the fights. It shouldn't be the referee. If anybody gets tired it shouldn't be the referee.

HBS - Have you ever been accidentally hit by a fighter?

RR - A couple of times. They claimed it was an accident.

HBS - (laughs)...And when you get some of these heavyweight guys it's got to be kind of tough to maintain control sometimes, or maybe not even heavyweights.

RR - The heavyweights aren't necessarily any more difficult than anybody else. If you're a licensed referee it doesn't make any duifference if it's flyweights or heavyweights. I did a fight one time, it was the largest aggregate weight in the ring. It was a giant, seven-foot-tall, something, and the little guy was 325 (lbs.) ....And the little guy at 325 knocked the giant down and it was over at the odl Radisson I think it was called then. Ring Doctor Guerrero came in and said "Let's get him to his feet," and I said, "Man, I hope you brought a tow truck because I can't lift this guy." (laughs)

HBS - Have you ever had any fights that it seemed like they were spiraling out of control, and what did you do to get it back into control?

RR - I've disqualified some people for repeatedly hitting low. Then I had one fight here in Houston with that was kind of getting out of control, they kind of brought the kitchen sink in on that one but we ended up getting it under control and they went the distance.

HBS - Of course one of the things you face with a referee is a lot of times people think you're stopping a fight too early. Obviously your concern is the protection of the fighter.

RR - Yeah, one time I stopped a fight and a guy came up to me afterwards and said I shouldn't have stopped the fight. He said he knew a lot about boxing and I shouldn't have stopped the fight. He wanted to know why I stopped that fight and I said, "Well where were you sitting?" He said, "I was sitting in the far back, back there, but I know you shouldn't have stopped that fight." I said, "Well, the reason I stopped that fight is when I walked over to his corner he said, 'I quit.' "

HBS - (laughs)...As a judge, you've probably judged about as many fights as you've reffed?

RR - I guess, it's hard to really say. I guess Bobby Gonzales and Barry have been doing it longer than I have and it would be interesting to find out, how many fight have you refereed. You don't count 'em. Like tonight there's only five fights on the card so I'll either do the odd or the even so I'll do two or three. Then I think it was two months ago when we had our last fight in Houston, so you just never know what it is.

HBS - But one of the big criticisms of boxing is that sometimes the decisions are questionable but I guess in a lot of ways it's kind of subjective.

RR - It is subjective and I've noticed that most of the people who don't like the decision sometimes, they're really not watching the fight. They're drinking beer and eating popcorn and then they don't agree with the decision sometimes so if you're going to judge you've got to watch the entire fight, not just sections of it or the very last round and it is subjective it's your opinion, your professional judgement. By the same token I've never seen a lot of these people who critizice decisions, I've never seen them at any of the judging seminars or any of the training seminars.

HBS - You've been doing this about 20 years, how much longer you figure you have left?

RR - I hope I don't have just another 20 years, I hope I have a little bit more than that.