By Jeff Zimmerman

Legendary Hall of Fame referee Richard Steele, at 76, has been in the fight game most of his life – first as a fighter and then arguably the greatest referee in boxing history. Steele has seen it all in boxing and has been the 3rd man in the ring for some of the sport’s most iconic fights that are still talked about today, including Leonard-Hagler, Hagler-Hearns and Chavez-Taylor just to name a few.

But with the recent pandemic that has swept the world and has caused thousands of deaths and an economic shutdown, Steele, like most people, is stuck at home instead of making his daily trips to his Richard Steele Foundation & Boxing Club (https://richardsteelefoundation.org/) where he runs his various educational programs for at risk youth around N. Las Vegas plus a Parkinson’s program for those inflicted with the dreaded disease.

Fightnews.com® caught up with Steele this week as he now spends most days watching the Price is Right, Divorce Court, old basketball and football games and of course past classic fights that are being aired on various networks.

Steele shared his thoughts on the coronavirus and its impact on boxing, the recent anniversaries of Hagler-Leonard (33 years – April 6, 1987), Hagler-Hearns (35 years -April 15, 1985) and the passing of his old friend and former world title contender Hedgemon Lewis.

What impact has the pandemic had on Boxing as a whole?

The coronavirus has really shaken up the boxing world. It really showed we are very vulnerable, because there are people that thought they had it made for the rest of their lives, that they would be here forever, and nothing would happen to boxing.

We made it through the UFC era and survived and a lot of different things like 9/11. People thought with 9/11 when we were all hurt and shook up, that we can always look at boxing and get us through it with boxing on tv and live events. It helped us heal the wounds and the broken hearts.

I have been in boxing for over 60 years and there has never been anything that affected boxing as much as this has. During Vietnam and WW2, they were still having boxing. The services like The Marine Corps and Army were still having boxing to entertain the troops, that shows how big boxing has been to this whole world. This is the only thing that has ever happened that has stopped boxing all around the world.

How will this shutdown affect the fighters?

I haven’t been in my gym for 3-4 weeks and I’m getting used to not going there. If I am getting so relaxed, what do you think about these fighters? They start getting the attitude I will try something else.

It will take a lot of work to bring boxing back, because we realize that some of these kids that boxed and go to the gym are not coming back. There are certain fighters will have to find something else to do. Some will have to find a job, because they couldn’t make a livelihood out of boxing. The 4,6, 8 rounders that really keep boxing going are not coming back because they need to find a job to live and take care of their families, so we are going to lose a lot of fighters and must rebuild all over again.

Another thing that hurts us, look at the Olympics, they were torn up before this virus, because they didn’t know how many countries would be involved, if the U.S. would even have a team. We had some guys that were fighting the same countries that they should be fighting in the Olympics, not before. The USA Olympic team is really messed up. If we don’t hurry up, we won’t have a team. This virus has messed boxing up from the kids in the gym, to professional, to the Olympics and it is going to be tough to get it back to where it was before.

What is different for you with this pandemic versus other worldwide tragedies?

For myself during 9/11, for example, I would just go to the gym, workout, mess with the kids, boxing, to get through the day. I could get my mind off all those thousands of people that got killed. This thing has affected us so much and there is nothing where we can hide our feelings or way of life. It has affected the poor, the rich, black and white, it has affected everybody. It has no barriers and it has killed so many people around the world.

I remember when things would go bad and I would get an assignment in Japan or Korea or some other part of the world and keep on trucking, but this thing has hurt us so bad that it has stopped everything and everywhere. Boxing has always been a lifestyle and no matter what happened around the world, I could continue my lifestyle because of boxing. But not this time. When the governor said we had to close the boxing gyms and he identified boxing gyms, man that’s my life.

How will this impact local boxing in Las Vegas?

In Las Vegas, we have about 15 boxing gyms, pro and amateur and they have been closed. At the beginning, the governor had said no more than 10 people at a time, and you can’t do boxing like that. The whole gym had to close, and we had to get everyone out of there and wipe down and disinfect all the equipment, but you can’t do that every day. Out of those 15 gyms here, at least 4 of them are not going to re-open if it goes past May, I bet you.

What about your boxing gym?

Once we get word of opening, we are going to do lots of changes, how we want it to function, different classes, different ages. Like the Parkinson’s in the morning and open at 12 for the public and at 4:00 for kids, do the same thing, but make sure everyone is doing it together, run it like a business. We will look at how it has been operated and improve it and make it better, starting all over again, this is how we are going to do it, and everyone must fall in line for everyone’s safety and to service them better. And we will need to bring money in to keep the doors open and it will take time to do that as some kids won’t come back as parents lost their job(s) and can’t pay.

The 125 kids that we took off the street are at home now, but when it re-opens, we don’t know how many will come back to the gym. That’s why we need classes and educational programs for the kids and show the parents this is where you want your kids at instead of back on the street with buddies, smoking weed, for example, and where they are being looked after and doing positive things. At the same time, parents will be getting back to work or finding another job. It is going to be tough to resume what I used to do with 120-30 kids, where parents are willing and able to pay money to keep their kids in the program.

And the longer they let this virus take over and keep the gym closed, the more I can see the gym not ever opening. If they don’t open the gym before October, it might kill the kids from coming back. We get used to socializing at the gym, after you go for so many months, it becomes a hangout, so you go to socialize, and we will be shooting ourselves in the foot by keeping these doors closed.

I will also need a way to test everybody which is key for businesses and the gym to open. Everyone that walks through my door, I have to test them.

On April 6, we had the 33-year anniversary of Marvelous Marvin Hagler vs. Sugar Ray Leonard, what are your thoughts from refereeing the fight?

It still one of the greatest fights of all time and everyone that paid money got their money’s worth. And the two fighters involved are still two of the greatest fighters of all time. After all these years, 33 years, those two fighters, Hagler and Leonard, are still in the top 10 ever.

And yes, Leonard did win the fight, but it was close, it was really close. I used to always say every time I see it; it gets closer and closer. But Ray won the fight.

The bad thing for me personally, watching old fights, it is really tough for me to see how many great people in boxing has passed away, a lot of people have died in the last 33 years. We have really lost some great people in boxing, coaches, trainers, official and fighters.

And on April 15, we celebrated the 35-year anniversary of Marvelous Marvin Hagler vs. Thomas “Hitman” Hearns, the “3 greatest rounds in boxing history” that you also reffed?

That fight was a great fight, it was voted for 20 plus years the best 3 rounds ever. Like all my fights, the 4 rounder or 6 rounder or a championship fight, I would always work out and get in shape. I never forget, I never forget after the 1st round, look I was running 3 miles, I was working out every day and after the 1st round I went back to the corner and said to myself I know these guys cannot keep this pace up, because I can’t.

The 2nd round started and here they go again, I said wow, I was moving trying to stay in the right vantage point where I can see what was going on making sure I had the fight in control. It was something. When Hearns collapsed in the 3rd round in my arms, we were all three just spent. They gave everything they had in the first 3 rounds and it was the most exciting fight that I ever did.

Boxing recently lost former world title contender Hedgemon Lewis, what are your recollections of him?

Hedgemon was not only a great fighter but a good friend of mine. We fought our last amateur tournament together in Kansas City. He was a lightweight and I was a middleweight and he was one of the superstars that came up with me. Here we are finishing the National Golden Gloves when I got on the plane and he was sitting in first class and I am sitting in the back and we are both headed to Los Angeles. When we get off the plane and go to baggage, there was Ryan O’Neal, Bill Cosby, Robert Goulet and Eddie Futch there to pick him up. If I recall, they had the January Promotion that they started with Hedgemon and they signed him. It was my first taste and the first time I ever saw a promotional company sign a fighter and build him.

He was a great fighter and this guy could really fight. He had some great fights. He fought Ernie Lopez (older brother of Danny “Little Red” Lopez) and Jose Napoles and had one of the greatest fights of all time with him. He also won the New York State welterweight title against Billy Backus. We had state championships in those days that were really a big deal.

Hedgemon was the first star I was brought up with and he was with all those guys. That was something. We trained at the same gym every day and remained friends. May he rest in peace.