Chuck Giampa, one of boxing's elite judges in a 26-year career, dies after lengthy illness
Chuck Giampa, who in a 26-year career built a reputation as one of boxing’s best and fairest judges, died Tuesday at a hospice in Las Vegas following a lengthy illness.
An insurance salesman by trade, Giampa began to work as a professional boxing judge in 1984 after a stint working in the amateurs. He would go on to judge 135 championship bouts and worked some of the biggest fights of his era, including Floyd Mayweather-Oscar De La Hoya in 2007 and the Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield rematch in 1997.
“Chuck was one of the top judges in the history of the sport,” said Marc Ratner, a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission for much of Giampa’s tenure as a judge.
“He was a consistent guy who you could count on. More important, he was a great guy and never had a bad word to say about anyone.”
Bob Bennett, the current executive director of the Nevada commission, said Giampa was “nice to everyone,” and “had a pleasant way with people.”
Giampa worked his first title fight in 1987, when he judged an IBF heavyweight title match in Las Vegas between Tony Tucker and Buster Douglas. His last major fight was in 2008, when he scored the Joe Calzaghe-Bernard Hopkins light heavyweight fight 116-111 for Calzaghe. He worked his final bouts in 2010, then briefly got into the media.
He was the ratings chairman briefly for Ring Magazine and worked for a period of time for Showtime. He wanted to use his spot in the media to let fighters know what officials are looking for when working a fight and to clear up misconceptions fans may have had about how a fight is scored.
He judged most of the great fighters of his era, including Tyson, Holyfield, Mayweather, De La Hoya, Hopkins, Calzaghe, Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Julio Cesar Chavez, Riddick Bowe, James Toney and Pernell Whitaker, among others.
More from Yahoo Sports:
• U.S., Canada, Mexico win bid for 2026 World Cup
• Dan Wetzel: Sure, winning World Cup bid is cool, but can U.S. finally win games?
• Maryland OL dies days after being hospitalized post-workout
• Ice Cube on Kap: ‘I knew his message would be hijacked’
