Boxing Referee Gets Punched In Face Multiple Times During Match
Boxing Ref Socked In Face, Eats Punches ... During Wild Match
A boxing referee turned into a human punching bag on Tuesday ... getting hit in the face multiple times as he tried to break up the action -- but surprisingly, he took it all like a champ!!
It happened at the RIZIN 49: Decade event in Saitama, Japan ... where Rukiya Anpo -- who was originally scheduled to fight Ryan Garcia -- took on K-1 champ Sina Karimian in the bout.
The sixth and final round of the exhibition got intense when Karimian landed an illegal spinning back fist on Anpo ... which sparked an all-out brawl between the two fighters.
When the official tried to separate the two pugilists, he found out it wasn't going to be as easy as he thought ... as he was rocked THREE times during the effort.
The referee accidentally gets punched clean in the face during a wild exchange between Rukiya Anpo and Sina Kari #RIZIN_DEACDE 😱 pic.twitter.com/YM5F3uye7A
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) December 31, 2024 @MMAFighting
Even though Anpo and Karimian didn't intentionally mean to hit the ref, security quickly jumped into the ring to calm the situation.
Thankfully, it appeared the ref was okay ... and he's now getting major props for being mostly unfazed by the stray shots.
No points were deducted from either fighter once the match resumed ... and Anpo secured the victory by unanimous decision, but the ref?? He's the real winner.
