By Ron Jackson

Deon Dwarte, from Richwood, in Cape Town has been appointed as referee for England’s Anthony Joshua’s defense of his WBA/IBF/WBO and IBO heavyweight belts against Kubret Pulev of Bulgaria, at the Wembley Arena in Wembley, England on Saturday the 12th of December

The 51-year-old Dwarte will become only the second South African to step into the ring as a third man in a world heavyweight title fight, with Stan Christodoulou being the first when he was the referee for the WBA heavyweight title fight between Mike Weaver and James Tillis in Rosemont, Illinios, USA on October 3, 1981. Christodoulou has officiated in more than 242 world title fights.

Dwarte flew to London last Friday where he has had stay in a bubble for a week due to the Coronavirus.

Deon, a deputy director at the Western Cape department of community safety‚ was a useful amateur boxer in his day‚ fighting in the same military team as Gary Murray‚ who went on to win a marginal world title as a professional.

He earned provincial colors with Griqualand West and won light-flyweight silver at the 1988 SA Defence Force championships‚ when they were famously competitive and has possibly acted as a referee and judge in more than 1 100 fights since he first stepped in as a judge in 1998.

He has a strong claim to being the best boxing official in South Africa at present.

According to reports, the London promoter will be allowed to have 1000 spectators in attendance spaced in terms of the Covid regulations.

Normally, Joshua pulls in crowds of 70,000 plus and when he defended the IBF, IBO belts and won the vacant WBA heavyweight belt against Wladimir Klitschko on April 29, 2017 at the Wembley Stadium there were 90,000 fans in attendance.