John McCarthy, the most recognizable and longest-tenured referee in all of American mixed martial arts, will take the next step in his professional career in the coming weeks. At a meeting with the Nevada Athletic Commission Wednesday morning in Las Vegas, the commissioners voted unanimously to elect “Big” John as a professional boxing judge.
McCarthy, who has long been considered to be as great an official as there is across the country, immediately adds some much-needed credibility to a commission that has been languishing under scrutiny and suffering from an almost unshakeable image of ineptitude. The move also runs perpendicular with Tony Weeks, one of boxing’s greatest all-around referees, who has been sitting the judge’s seat for MMA and kickboxing for several years.
There was no announcement as to when McCarthy’s first assignment as a boxing judge for the NAC will be.