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ANTHONY JOSHUA was stopped by Andy Ruiz Jr in one of the biggest shocks in boxing history.
Canadian official Mike Griffin called a halt to the fight as the Brit was astonishingly beaten in the seventh round.
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But who was the man in the middle?
Who is Mike Griffin?
Mike Griffin was born into a large Catholic family in Montreal.
Griffin claims his life was transformed as a child when he was called out to fight at his local park.
Expected to lose, he said: "All of a sudden people start treating me differently."
He also had to overcome tough family circumstances to become one of the boxing world's top officials.
Mike's after murdering a man over an unpaid drug debt in 2003.
And his younger brother Richard was tragically shot to death in 2006 after supposedly blocking a debt payment to the mafia.
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Did Mike Griffin save Tony Bellew's life?
Liverpool boxer Bellew credits Mike Griffin for saving his life by stopping his 2013 fight with Adonis Stevenson.
After Bellew became WBC champion at cruiserweight, he was congratulated by Griffin.
Recounting the conversation, Bellew commented: “I said ‘Thank you, but I want to say something to you. You saved my life that night [against Stevenson].’
"He said ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘You saved my life, thank you.’
"He said, ‘You were doing fine by yourself.’ I said, ‘No, I weren’t.’
"He [Stevenson] hit me with a shot and I didn’t see it, and I was asleep on my feet, and if he’d have been allowed to take the next punch when I’m not braced…
"As boxers we brace ourselves, we see punches coming, we turn ourselves away from the punch and we know what’s coming.
"But if the lights switch out, if a man is hit when he can’t brace or prepare himself, that is when the damage is done.
"I went like jelly in that ring, and he was probably one punch away from ending my career.
"That referee saved my life, and I said that to him. That was what I was like in that weight class.”
And after Joshua was beaten by Ruiz Jr, Bellew labelled Griffin "the best referee in the world" despite saying he disagreed with the stoppage.
What other fights has Mike Griffin refereed?
Five years after the Bellew fight, Griffin refereed Adonis Stevenson again, against Ukrainian Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
Unfortunately on that night, Stevenson was not as lucky as Bellew had been and slipped into a coma after being knocked out, requiring emergency brain surgery.
Fortunately, the Canadian boxer is now able to walk and speak again.
Griffin said of the fight afterwards: “I lost my appetite, I lost more than 10 pounds. Every night, I wake up at 4 am with the images of the fight in mind.”
The referee has also taken charge of fights involving Vitaly Klitschko, Deontay Wilder and the famous Cotto-Martinez fight in 2014.
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