Referee Jack Reiss on the Night Tyson Fury Rose from the Canvas Against Deontay Wilder

On a recent episode of the Fight Freaks Unite/Big Fight Weekend podcast, Dan Rafael spoke to the legendary referee Jack Reiss, who recently announced his retirement after 25 years and a staggering 1,152 bouts. On this special episode of the podcast, Reiss reflected on his start in boxing, his retirement and his decision to carry on judging. During the interview, Reiss spoke on the shocking knockdown of Tyson Fury in the first Fury Wilder fight and his fascinating insight into why he decided to count instead of waving the fight off.

Jack Reiss Reflects on the Dramatic Fury Wilder Knockdown

Inside Jack Reiss’s Decision During Fury Wilder Round 12

After discussing his decision to retire – attention quickly turned to Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder 1 on December 1 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. In round 12, “The Gypsy King” was knocked down for the second time in the fight – and Rafael asked Reiss to recollect that moment: “I’m happy that I was part of that moment and it went the way it went,” said Reiss regarding Fury recovering after the knockdown and winning the rest of the final round.

He continued: “I do have a little something to express that a lot of my experience comes from the Los Angeles Fire Department, being an EMT for over 31 years and riding for 19 years as a captain on a paramedic engine company going out to shooting, stabbings, car accidents, beatings.”

Read More: Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder II: The Night Fury Returned to the Top

Reiss added: “And I’m very familiar with trauma. I’m very comfortable with trauma because I personally assessed and watched my firefighters and paramedics assess trauma victims constantly. So I’ve learned a little bit about trauma.”

Talking about judging a fighter’s condition and their ability to continue, Reiss said: “Then being a boxing referee, I’m comfortable with it because I get to see the progression of damage right in front of me and I get to see the punch the guy gets hit with.”

“It’s called the mechanism of injury. I get to see it while it’s happening and watch his body language. So I got a little advantage there from that experience.”

Fury Wilder I

Reflecting on the fight: “My thought was going in the fight, Tyson Fury is doing pretty good. He’s moving, he’s bouncing. I wonder if he can keep this up. That’s what my thought was,” said Reiss.

Discussing the knockdown, the legendary referee said: “Unlike everyone else, I’m trained. I’m watching how he falls and how he lands and what he does and people think that he fell flat on his back and his head slammed against the canvas.”

He continued: “If that was the case, I probably would have waved it off. But what actually happened is he fell down, took the brunt of the fall on his forearm and elbow and then shoulder. His head, went into a whipping motion, but it never hit the canvas. And then he rolled and laid on his back.”

Read More: Tyson Fury Outslugs Wilder In A Wild Trilogy

The Brooklyn-born referee added: “I pointed down, signalling that I was scoring it a knockdown.”

Revealing a fascinating insight into that moment, Reiss said: “What I picked up instinctively is when I turned to him, he was laying flat on his back, but his right leg was up. His knee was bent and he was resting on the heel of his foot. That’s a conscious act.”

Reiss added: “That’s a conscious act. If he was unconscious, his leg would have been flat out. He would have, you know, no muscle control.”

To hear the Jack Reiss interview and more from a recent “Fight Freaks Unite Podcast” with Dan Rafael and TJ Rives, click the play button below.

Fury Wilder: Further Insight

Offering further insight into Fury’s condition at the time of the knockout:”(The) second thing I noticed stepping in, as I got closer, he was squeezing his gloves. I don’t know if you guys ever saw this. If you watch it again, take a look,” said Reiss. “So I said there’s something going on, neurologically. Let me see what we got.”

Read More: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury 2: Reflection From the Stands

He continued: “And as I got in closer, I can see his eyes were open. They weren’t open wide, but they were open.” He added: “They weren’t open wide, but they were open. And as I kneeled down, the thing I noticed was he tracked me with his eyes. He went from looking straight up to looking at me.”

“So I started to count, I think it was at four. And when I got to five, he popped his eyes wide open.”

Fury rising from the canvas after being knocked down in round 12 will go down in history as one of the sport’s iconic moments. Watching “The Gypsy King” recover and go on to outbox Wilder in the final round is as memorable as it comes.