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15th Jan 2017

Referee in DeGale v Jack title fight was almost knocked down by a stray punch

You don't see this every day.

Tom Victor

James DeGale’s unification bout with Badou Jack was full of talking points.

We had the controversy over the scoring, where neither fighter’s camp seemed happy with the majority draw decision.

DeGale took plenty of punishment en route to holding on to his IBF super-middleweight belt, including the loss of a tooth or two, but he wasn’t the only one.

Referee Arthur Mercante Jr was almost knocked off his feet midway through the fight as he stepped in to pull the fighters apart.

Jack caught the ref, completely by accident, and had to more or less catch him to stop him from plummeting to the ground.

After the initial shock, Mercante appeared to regain his composure as quickly as could be expected. What a pro.

Catch up with this week’s episode of Football Friday Live: