Daniel Van de Wiele (born November 10, 1956, in Leuven, Belgium), is a boxing referee, most notable for his refereeing of the WBC heavyweight title fight between Lennox Lewis and Hasim Rahman on April 21, 2001. He has also refereed the 2009 the WBC heavyweight title fight between Vitaly Klitschko and Juan Carlos Gómez, which ended in the ninth round with Gómez unable to continue.
Van de Wiele started his work as a boxing referee on December 13, 1980. Since then, Daniel Van de Wiele has refereed over 680 title fights. His most notable fights refereeing include the 2001 WBC Heavyweight title and the 2009 WBC Heavyweight title.
Daniel Van de Wiele is married to Olena Pobyvailo. They have a daughter, Sophie, and Daniel has 2 children from a first marriage, Koen and Dorien.
Jesús Carlos Zárate Serna is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1970 to 1988, and held the WBC bantamweight title from 1976 to 1979.
Hasim Sharif Rahman is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2014. He is a two-time world heavyweight champion, having held the unified WBC, IBF, IBO and lineal titles in 2001; and the WBC title again from 2005 to 2006. He was ranked as a top 10 heavyweight by BoxRec from 2000 to 2007, and reached his highest ranking of world No.6 in 2000.
Eliseo Castillo is a Cuban former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2009, holding the NABO cruiserweight title in 2006. He is the younger brother of Heavyweight boxer Elieser Castillo.
Samuel Okon Peter is a Nigerian professional boxer. He held the WBC heavyweight title in 2008, when he stopped Oleg Maskaev in six rounds. In his prime, he was known for his rivalry with the Klitschko brothers, having faced Wladimir twice and Vitali once. Peter was named among the 20 greatest athletes in the history of independent Nigeria by The Punch in 2023, while his capturing of the WBC heavyweight title was ranked the 26th most memorable moment in independent Nigeria's sports history by Premium Times in 2020. He was ranked by The Ring among ten best heavyweights at the conclusion of a year from 2005 to 2008, reaching his highest ranking of world No.2 in 2007. Peter is known for his punching power and holds a 78.9% knockout-to-win ratio.
Joseph "Sandy" Saddler was an American professional boxer. He was a two-time featherweight world champion, having also held the super featherweight title. Over his twelve-year career (1944–56), Saddler scored 104 knockouts and was stopped only once himself, in his second professional fight, by Jock Leslie. Considered to be one of the hardest hitting featherweights, Saddler was ranked number five on The Ring magazine's list of "100 Greatest Punchers of All Time". His nephew is Grandmaster Flash.
Masahiko Harada, better known as Fighting Harada, is a Japanese former professional boxer. He is a world champion in two weight classes, having held the NYSAC, WBA, and The Ring undisputed flyweight titles from 1962 to 1963 and the WBA, WBC, and The Ring undisputed bantamweight titles from 1965 and 1968. He is currently the president of the Japanese boxing association.
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory authority to guarantee the fighters' safety. Most high-profile bouts obtain the endorsement of a sanctioning body, which awards championship belts, establishes rules, and assigns its own judges and referees.
Chad Dawson is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2019. He held multiple world championships in the light heavyweight division, and was one of that division's most highly regarded boxers between 2006 and 2013.
Anthony Tyrone Thompson is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2000 to 2016. He challenged twice for unified world heavyweight titles, in 2008 and 2012, both times against Wladimir Klitschko. Described by many observers and fighters as stylistically "awkward", Thompson was ranked by The Ring as the ninth best heavyweight in the world at the end of 2007.
Roberto Garcia Cortez is a Mexican-American former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2001, and held the IBF junior lightweight title from 1998 to 1999. He has since worked as a boxing trainer, and was voted Trainer of the Year by The Ring magazine in 2011, and by the Boxing Writers Association of America in 2012. He is the older brother of professional boxer Mikey Garcia, who was a world champion in four weight classes.
Johnny Saxton was an American professional boxer in the welterweight (147lb) division. He was born in Newark, New Jersey, learned to box in a Brooklyn orphanage and had an amateur career winning 31 of 33 fights, twice becoming World Welterweight Champion.
David "Bomber" Pearce was a Welsh heavyweight boxing champion.
Bernard Hopkins Jr. is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2016. He is one of the most successful boxers of the past three decades, having held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the undisputed middleweight title from 2001 to 2005, and the lineal light heavyweight title from 2011 to 2012.
Hedgemon Lewis was an American professional boxer and trainer. He held the NYSAC welterweight world title in 1972 and challenged for welterweight world championships on three occasions; the unified WBA, and WBC titles twice in 1971 and 1974; and the WBC title in 1976. As an amateur, he won the National Golden Gloves lightweight title in 1964 and the welterweight title in 1966.
Joe Santarpia was an American professional boxing referee.
Anthony Perez was an American boxing referee and judge of Puerto Rican descent. During his career, he refereed many major boxing fights and participated in a number of boxing related documentaries.
Wilfredo Gómez vs. Carlos Zárate was a professional boxing match contested between WBC super bantamweight champion Wilfredo Gómez and WBC bantamweight champion Carlos Zárate, with Gómez' super bantamweight title on the line. The bout took place on October 28, 1978, at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Gómez retained his title via fifth-round technical knockout (TKO). Many experts credit this fight as the beginning of the Mexico–Puerto Rico boxing rivalry.
Adam Richards is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2010, challenging for the WBO cruiserweight title in 2010. Richards was national amateur champion four times. He co-holds with Mike Tyson the record of winning two consecutive Junior Olympic heavyweight titles by knocking out every opponent.
Larry Hazzard Sr. is a former amateur boxer, boxing referee, athletic control board commissioner, teacher and actor. He is a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, being inducted during 2010. Hazzard has served as Commissioner of the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board since 2014, his second stint as commissioner after serving from 1985 to 2007.
The Michael Dokes vs. Mike Weaver or, alternately, Mike Weaver vs. Michael Dokes, boxing fights were a pair of fights that occurred in 1982 and 1983 and were for the World Boxing Association's world Heavyweight title. Both fights were considered controversial due to a separate set of situations. They are both among the most widely spoken about heavyweight boxing contests of the 1980s.