NEW YORK (AP) — Hall of Fame boxing referee Arthur Mercante, the third man in the ring for the first Ali-Frazier fight and more than a hundred other world title bouts, has died. He was 90.
Mercante died Saturday at his home in Westbury, said Edward Brophy, executive director of the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota.
Flags at the Hall of Fame were flying at half-staff Saturday, and 10-bell salutes were planned before Andre Berto’s welterweight title fight against Carlos Quintana in Sunrise, Fla., and a Top Rank-promoted card in Las Vegas.
Mercante refereed 145 world title fights during his career, the most famous on March 8, 1971, when Joe Frazier defeated Muhammad Ali in “The Fight of the Century” at Madison Square Garden.
