Mickey Vann

Last updated

Mickey Vann
Mickey Vann.jpg
Statistics
Real nameMichael Van Norman
Weight(s)Featherweight
Nationality Flag of the United Kingdom.svg British
Born (1943-12-29) 29 December 1943 (age 79)
London, England
StanceOrthodox
Boxing record
Total fights11
Wins2
Wins by KO1
Losses9
Draws0
No contests0

Michael Van Norman better known as Mickey Vann (born 29 December 1943 in London, England) [1] is a former boxer and British boxing referee. Vann was a 'Class A Star' referee and boxing judge. [2] [3] He arbitrated his first professional bout on 14 January 1985, and since has refereed many World, regional, and national title fights. [3]

Contents

Life as a Fighter

Before becoming a referee, Vann was a professional boxer. He fought 11 times, as a featherweight, winning two and losing nine. His first fight was on 24 April 1969 and his last was on 11 November 1970. [4]

Life as Referee and Autobiography

In September 2002 he disqualified challenger Stephen Smith as Ricky Hatton defended his WBU light welterweight title. Smith's father pushed Vann in the second round. [5]

Mickey's autobiography, Give Me a Ring was published 2003 by Mainstream, revealing the colourful story of his childhood. Mickey was the son of Hal Denver (a friend of Elvis Presley)-who once threw knives at John Major's mother-and the grandson of The Silver King, a showman with The Elephant Man among his sideshows. Mickey's childhood was spent in fairs appearing as the giraffe necked woman, and at a Dickensian foster home.

His career in boxing has seen him take charge of many great champions. He was in charge of the world heavyweight 'Battle of Britain' in Cardiff between Lennox Lewis and Frank Bruno.

In his sixties, Mickey qualified to coach rugby league and has worked with Leeds Rhinos Academy. He also hopes to make it onto the veterans over 65 athletic team, having competed in events over 60 and 100 metres.

Retired and Still A Championship Referee

Mickey was force retired from by the British Boxing Board of Control regulation stating referees over 65 are no longer allowed to referee. However, continues to referee international contests and is still regularly used as a judge by major world boxing bodies. On 14 July 2012, at Upton Park in London, Vann was still active refereeing in the professional ring in Great Britain despite the ban, serving as man in the middle for Liam Walsh versus Domenico Urbano vacant WBO European Lightweight title 12 round contest on the undercard of David Haye versus Derek Chisora. The card was sanctioned by Luxembourg Boxing Federation to the defiance of British Boxing Board of Control. At the start of the sixth round, Vann, still a strong referee, took a point from Urbano for illegal headbutting in the previous round, with Urbano bleeding from a facial cut. The cut was caused by a proper blow. Vann stopped the bout at 2:10 in the eighth round with Walsh giving Urbano a one-sided beating on his feet.

Related Research Articles

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kostya Tszyu</span> Russian-Australian boxer

Konstantin Borisovich "Kostya" Tszyu is a Russian Australian former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2005. He held multiple light-welterweight world championships, including the undisputed and lineal titles between 2001 and 2005. Tszyu was an exceptional all-around boxer-puncher who relied heavily on accuracy, timing, and carried formidable punching power; he is often regarded as one of the hardest-punching light-welterweights in the division's history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marco Antonio Barrera</span> Mexican boxer el cangrejo

Marco Antonio Barrera Tapia is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2011. He held multiple world championships in three weight classes between 1995 and 2007, from super bantamweight to super featherweight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mickey Walker (boxer)</span> American boxer

Edward Patrick "Mickey" Walker was an American professional boxer who held both the world welterweight and world middleweight championships at different points in his career. Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, he was also an avid golfer and would later be recognized as a renowned artist. Walker is widely considered one of the greatest fighters ever, with ESPN ranking him 17th on their list of the 50 Greatest Boxers of All-Time and boxing historian Bert Sugar placing him 11th in his Top 100 Fighters catalogue. Statistical website BoxRec rates Walker as the 6th best middleweight ever, while The Ring Magazine founder Nat Fleischer placed him at No. 4. The International Boxing Research Organization ranked Walker as the No. 4 middleweight and the No. 16 pound-for-pound fighter of all-time. Walker was inducted into the Ring magazine Hall of Fame in 1957 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame as a first-class member in 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ricky Hatton</span> British professional boxer

Richard John Hatton is a British former professional boxer who competed between 1997 and 2012, and has since worked as a boxing promoter and trainer. During his boxing career he held multiple world championships at light-welterweight and one at welterweight. BoxRec ranks Hatton as the 11th greatest European boxer of all time and 5th greatest British boxer of all time, pound for pound. In 2005 he was named Fighter of the Year by The Ring magazine, the Boxing Writers Association of America, and ESPN.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Dundee</span> American boxer

Salvatore Lazzara, better known by his boxing alias Joe Dundee, was an American boxer. He was the brother of Middleweight Champion Vince Dundee. During his career, he was recognized as the World Welterweight Champion from 1927-9. Dundee's managers included Max Waxman, and Charles Johnston, and his trainer was Heinie Blaustein. He was the older brother of former middleweight world champion of boxing, Vince Dundee.

Scott Harrison is a Scottish professional boxer who held the WBO featherweight title twice between 2002 and 2005. At regional level, he held the Commonwealth featherweight title from 2000 to 2002 and the British featherweight title in 2001. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal in the featherweight division at the 1996 European Championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew Hatton</span>

Matthew James "Matty" Hatton is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2000 to 2013. He held the European welterweight title from 2010 to 2011, and challenged once for the WBC light-middleweight title in the latter year. He is the younger brother of former two-division world champion of boxing, Ricky Hatton, and fought on the undercard of many of Ricky's high-profile fights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juan Lazcano</span> Boxer

Juan Lazcano is a Mexican-born American professional boxer currently based in Sacramento, California. He fights at light welterweight and is a former World Boxing Foundation (WBF), NABF and IBA lightweight champion, as well as having challenged for the IBO light welterweight title.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Calzaghe</span> Welsh boxer

Joseph William Calzaghe is a Welsh former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2008. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including unified and lineal titles at super-middleweight, and the Ring magazine light-heavyweight title.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Gomez</span> British boxer

Michael Gomez is a former professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2009. He was born to an Irish Traveller family in Longford, Ireland, spending his early years in Dublin before moving to London and later Manchester, England, with his family at the age of nine. In boxing he was affectionately known as "The Predator", "The Irish Mexican" and "The Mancunian Mexican".

Jason Cook is a former professional boxer, who fought under the nickname "The Power". As an amateur, he won a silver medal for Wales at the 1994 Commonwealth Games. As a professional, he has fought as a lightweight, and has won both the European and IBO championships at the weight. He currently campaigns at Light-Welterweight, and fights out of Fight Academy Wales gym in Llanharan, South Wales under the guidance of professional coach Darren Wilson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lennox Lewis vs. Frank Bruno</span> Boxing competition

Lennox Lewis vs. Frank Bruno, billed as "The Battle of Britain" was a professional boxing match contested on 1 October 1993 at Cardiff Arms Park in Wales. It was between WBC heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis, who was making the second defence of his title and Frank Bruno, who was fighting in his third world title bout, his two previous title fights having been unsuccessful. Lewis beat Bruno by a technical knockout in the seventh round.

Billy Waith was a Welsh welterweight boxer. He made an unsuccessful challenge for the British Welterweight title in 1978 against Henry Rhiney and became Wales Welterweight champion in 1982, holding it until his retirement from the sport in 1984.

Samuel Maxwell is an English professional boxer who has held the British and Commonwealth light-welterweight titles since August 2021. As an amateur he won a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Andy Till is a British former boxer who was British light middleweight champion and WBC International super welterweight champion in the early 1990s. A former milkman at Express Dairies - Northolt, and good pals of Steve Lovell, Roger Matthews and Little Fat Willy.

Wally Swift Jr is a British former boxer who was British light middleweight champion between 1991 and 1992, and also fought for the European title.

Chris Saunders is a British former boxer who was British welterweight champion between 1995 and 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmy Walsh (American boxer)</span> American boxer

Jimmy Walsh was an American boxer who claimed the World Bantamweight Championship on March 29, 1905, when he defeated Monte Attell, in a controversial six-round bout at the National Athletic Club in Philadelphia. His claim was recognized by the World Boxing Association, at the time the National Boxing Association. The fight ended in a disqualification called by the referee when Walsh sent a low right hook that landed below the belt of Attell. Most sources believed Walsh had led throughout the fight and that the blow should have been considered legal, which may be why Walsh was credited with the title by the National Boxing Association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Tennyson</span> Irish boxer

James Martin Tennyson is a Northern Irish former professional boxer who competed from 2012 to 2021. who challenged for the IBF super-featherweight title in 2018 and the IBO lightweight title in May 2021. At regional level he held the Commonwealth and European super-featherweight titles in 2018 and the British lightweight title from 2020 to May 2021.

References

  1. "Top Boxing Referee..." Retrieved 11 September 2008.,
  2. "Mickey Vann", Boxrec.com, retrieved 5 April 2008
  3. 1 2 "Mickey Vann" Archived 11 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine , BritishBoxing.net, retrieved 5 April 2008
  4. Boxing record for Mickey Vann from BoxRec (registration required), retrieved 5 April 2008
  5. "Hatton wins farce", BBC Sport, 28 September 2002