Henry William Gibbs OBE (3 October 1920 – 16 November 1999) was an English

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

referee and judge. In a career spanning four decades, Gibbs took charge of numerous world title fights, and officiated in bouts involving Muhammad Ali,

Roberto Durán Roberto Durán Samaniego (born June 16, 1951) is a Panamanian former professional boxer who competed from 1968 to 2001. He held world championships in four weight classes: lightweight, welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight, as w ...

Sugar Ray Leonard Ray Charles Leonard (born May 17, 1956), best known as "Sugar" Ray Leonard, is an American former professional boxer, motivational speaker, and occasional actor. Often regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, he competed professional ...

Sugar Ray Robinson Walker Smith Jr. (May 3, 1921 – April 12, 1989), better known as Sugar Ray Robinson, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1940 to 1965. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. He is often regard ...

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, Mike Tyson,

Barry McGuigan Finbar Patrick McGuigan MBE (born 28 February 1961) is an Irish boxing promoter and former professional boxer. Born in Clones, Ireland, McGuigan was nicknamed ''The Clones Cyclone'' and held the WBA and lineal featherweight titles from 198 ...

and Joe Frazier. He was the referee and sole judge of the fight between Henry Cooper and

Joe Bugner József Kreul Bugner (born 13 March 1950) is a Hungarian-born British- Australian former heavyweight boxer and actor. He holds triple nationality, being a citizen of Hungary and a naturalised citizen of both Australia and the United King ...

in 1971, awarding the fight to Bugner by a quarter of a point, which remains one of the most controversial decisions in British boxing history. He was also the referee when Wilfredo Gomez beat Carlos Zarate in

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. Gibbs was originally supposed to be one of three judges, alongside Dave Moretti and Lou Filippo, in the Marvelous Marvin Hagler vs. Sugar Ray Leonard world middleweight title fight in April 1987. Pat Petronelli from the Hagler camp objected to Gibbs being a judge in the fight, and he was replaced by JoJo Guerra, who scored the fight 118-110 for Leonard. Leonard won by split decision (118-110, 115-113, 113-115). Ironically, Gibbs, watching the fight at home, scored the fight 115-113 for Hagler.

References

ObituaryBoxing record
1920 births 1999 deaths Boxing judges British boxing referees Officers of the Order of the British Empire Boxing in England {{England-boxing-bio-stub