Tony Perez is considered one of the great referees. His career began in 1968. That bout was at Madison Square Garden that had Buster Mathis TKO James Woody in the 6th Round. He was the third man in the ring for Frazier VS Ellis, Ali vs Frazier, Ali vs Wepner, Ali vs Quarry, Mancini vs Arguello and so many more bouts. Tony was honored with the acclaimed Jose Torres Renaissance Man Award for 2013.
World Liberty TV team was on hand to interview Mr. Perez at the 3rd Annual Ring 10 Gala.
Marlon “Magic Man” Starling was a two-time US world champion boxer.
Starling was born in Hartford, CT in 1959. He turned professional in 1979. After 25 straight wins, he lost his first fight. He lost a 12 round decision to Donald Curry in 1982. Starling had a rematch with Curry in 1984, challenging for the WBA and IBF welterweight titles. Starling lost by a 15 round decision.
Starling’s second world title fight came in 1987. He knocked out Mark Breland in the 11th round to win the WBA welterweight title. In his third title defense, Starling lost the title in controversial fashion to Tomas Molinares. Molinares hit Starling with a punch that was clearly thrown after the bell. Starling went down for the only time in his career, and the referee counted him out. Molinares was declared the new champion by knock out. However, the decision was later changed to a no contest but the Colombian kept the title.
In 1989, Starling knocked out Lloyd Honeyghan to win the WBC welterweight titles. The following year, Starling challenged Michael Nunn for the IBF middleweight title, but lost by decision. In his next fight, Starling lost his welterweight titles on a close decision to Maurice Blocker. That was Starling’s last fight. He retired with a record of 45-6-1-1 (27 KOs).
