ARLINGTON, Texas -- Texas-based referee Laurence Cole will be the third man in the ring for Saturday night's clash between WBO welterweight titlist Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito for the WBC's vacant junior middleweight belt. The nearly 5-foot-7 Pacquiao weighed in at 144.6 pounds compared to the 150 pounds for the 5-11 Margarito, who is expected to out-weigh the smaller fighter by as much as 15 pounds come fight night. According to BoxingScene.com's Michael Marley, Cole worked Pacquiao's 11th-round knockout of Marco Antonio Barrera, calling a Pacquiao slip a knockdown.
In this Q&A, Cole shed some light on what he expects not only of himself entering this, his 55th world championship bout since he first began in 1990, but also, what he expects out of the fighters. FanHouse: The bigger man versus the smaller man is basically what this fight is about, so, how rough will you allow it to get in there between Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito?
Laurence Cole: The bigger man is always going to be the one trying to press the action. The guy who is the smaller man who has got speed is going to try to elude it. And, of course, you let the action happen as long as the rules are being enforced.
In other words, there's no pushing, no elbows, no leaning, etc. If there are guys staying up, then they're staying up, they're using their hands, they're working, then there's not a problem.
What is your perception of what people believe that they're going to see in a Laurence Cole-officiated fight?
You have a background and referees have styles just like other guys.
How would you characterize your style?
Because I'm a little bit younger than most officials, I'm pretty physical. I'm very boisterous, I like making strong commands. I expect them to obey my commands. But probably the top thing is that I work the hands away.
In what way?
Well, instead of always breaking a fighter, you know, and constantly getting into the middle and breaking the rhythm of a fight, I will work the hands out. When a guy gets his hands pulled in there, and he gets it hung up or something, I will push it through.
But I will tell them at the same time, 'You keep fighting until you hear a command.' I do it in a strong enough voice. And I want them to fight.
As a former fighter, and not a very good one, I know that if you're paying too much attention to the referee, then you're not paying attention to the job that you're doing as a fighter.
So, if you're constantly being broken up, you lose the rhythm of the fight. It's just like when you're watching an NFL game and they're dropping that yellow flag all of the time.
It bogs the game down. A referee trying to be overactive bogs the fight down. I just want to be able to work, slide in and out, not get involved. If the hands get tied up, we'll work them out.
You have worked only one fight between the two of them, correct?
I've worked with both fighters camps, but not with both fighters. I worked Manny Pacquiao's fight years ago against [Marco Antonio] Barrera in San Antonio [11th-round knockout victory for Pacquiao.] It was a big upset at the time.
How will that experience help you for this fight?
Well you always have an interesting thing with a southpaw fighter like Manny Pacquiao, and that is the way that their heads line up and their jabs line up and you have to be very cautious of their heads clashing.
Because they slide in and out with the punching. So you've got to be cautious that they don't butt heads. And then, you've got a smaller fighter in Manny Pacquiao who is going to come in underneath.
So, you know, that's where you worry that he could be lunging forward sometimes and you worry about the heads coming together.
What is your ultimate goal in this fight?
I was just telling somebody earlier that my goal is to walk out of that ring and to have no one know that I was there working.
How do you mean?
I mean that I didn't have an impact on the fight, and that I let the fighters take center stage, I don't want to be a part of it.
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
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