HALL OF FAME REFEREE TO HANDLE LORETO-NIYOMTRONG FIGHT

BANGKOK – A veteran American boxing referee will be the third man on the ring in the much-awaited championship fight between defending WBA world minimumweight champion Thammanoon Niyomtrong a.k.a. Knockout CP Freshmart and Filipino challenger Rey “Hitman” Loreto on July 15 at 4 p.m. at the Chonburi City Hall in Chonburi.
He is Rafael Ramos, a referee from San Antonio, Texas, who has officiated many world title bouts around the world including Japan, Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Macau, France, Italy, Germany, Mexico, Ecuador, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama and Puerto Rico.
Ramos, who was inducted in the San Antonio Boxing Hall of Fame in 2014 was the referee of the title fight for the vacant IBF world super flyweight crown between Filipino Arthur Villlanueva and McJoe Arroyo held in 2015 in El Paso, Texas. Arroyo won the fight after the doctor stopped the fight due to cut over the right eye of Villanueva.
Ramos, a retired US army, was also one of the judges in the unification title fight of Juan Francisco Estrada and Milan Melindo for the WBO world flyweight and WBA super world flyweight titles held 2013 in Macau.
The 12-round Loreto-Niyomtrong fight will be supervised by Renzo Bagnariol while the three judges are Ferlin Marsh of New Zealand, Ignacio Robles of Panama and Takeshi Shimakawa of Japan.
Meanwhile, the officials from the Philippine Games and Amusements Board (GAB) arrived here to give full support to the Team Loreto.
“We’ll make sure that everything is okay for our Filipino boxer especially during the official weigh-in,” said Mitra, who arrived together with Commissioners Edward Trinidad and Fritz Gaston and Boxing Division’s Ralph Diokno.
They will also have a meeting with the officials of the Professional Boxing Association of Thailand (PBAT), which is duly recognized by the Sports Authority of Thailand.
PBAT is currently headed by its president Naris Singwangcha.

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