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Idle judge keeping active
Miller stays busy with his OAC duties
By Greg Gulas
MINERAL RIDGE
From 1995-2016, Tom Miller was considered one of the top professional boxing judges around.
Over that span, the Mineral Ridge resident and Austintown Fitch High graduate judged 350 bouts. One-hundred-five were championship fights, most in the United States.
While the average judge might call four, possibly five title assignments a good year, Miller always seemed to be on the radar of the sanctioning bodies. He averaged a little more than a dozen title assignments each year.
He stepped aside in 2016 to devote more time to his family — his wife of 30 years, Judy, and daughter Isabella, a sophomore at Mineral Ridge High School.
His travels have become more centralized, yet he remains a huge part of the game after aligning himself with the Ohio Athletic Commission.
Miller is learning other aspects of boxing and MMA under the guidance of executive director Bernie Profato.
“I judged in 23 countries and amassed over 520,000 frequent flyer miles, which I am still using today with my family,” Miller said. “I judged my last fight in 2016 in the Philippines [Cebu City] and knew that it was time to take a step back to spend more time with my family.
“It was the right decision and one on which I have never looked back.”
Despite his popularity as a judge and forging his name in professional boxing circles, Miller always remained true to his amateur roots where has judged more than 4,500 bouts. The number grows by 1,000 if you include his affiliation with the now-defunct KO Drugs tournament.
Miller said he has learned other areas that the OAC is responsible for while coming to appreciate mixed-martial arts.
He enjoys being an amateur referee and his added duties as an inspector.
“Since taking a break from judging, Bernie has taught me quite a bit,” Miller said. “At first, I was neutral about MMA and their affiliation with the OAC but now, I really enjoy it. They’re like a brotherhood in that they go at one another full bore when in the cage yet when finished, there’s still a mutual respect.”
Miller is a member of the Curbstone Coaches, Trumbull County Sports, Legends of Leather and Ohio State Boxers and Associates halls of fame.
Miller has learned the hard-line approach Profato takes when dealing with fighters, their promoters, managers and trainers.
“Just because a fighter is 2-0, Bernie isn’t going to pair them up with someone who is 23-0 or 0-23 just so that there can be a fight,” Miller said. “He’s always looking out for the best interest of the fighter and has taken plenty of heat for some of the decisions that he has made.
“He has never wavered with his decision. Also, I am sure that he can write a book about what promoters try to pull off. He is a fair director, has a great model that he has developed with other states looking to emulate Ohio and his commission. His has an excellent reputation nationwide.”
Miller remains busy with several upcoming amateur and pro-am events on his docket, yet remains in touch with the WBC, WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO sanctioning bodies.
“They’ve told me if I ever want to come back to judge a title fight, they would accommodate my request,” he said. “To me, that is very humbling and while you never say never the timing right now just isn’t there.”
He said Manny Pacquiao, Wladimir Klitschko and Miguel Cotto were the top three fighters he has judged. He judged former middleweight world champion Kelly Pavlik during his amateur career.
“I knew right then and there that he would become a champion,” Miller said. “We have a tremendous local boxing tradition, both professionally and on the amateur level.
“During my travels around the world, when people found out that I was from Youngstown all they wanted to do was talk about Ray ‘Boom Boom’ Mancini, Harry Arroyo, Kelly and Earnie Shavers, adding please say hello to them when I return home.”