Referee Dave Barry
Dave Barry was the name of the referee for the Heavyweight Title fight between Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney back in the late 1920's. Dempsey and Tunney had actually fought twice, but the night that Dave Barry refereed was the night of the famous "Long Count". Up until that point in time, a boxer was allowed to stand over his opponent after a knockdown. He could basically pummel his opponent the moment he rose from the canvas. But the Dempsey-Tunney Rematch was the first fight where the new "Neutral Corner Rule" would be used.
Dempsey had lost the first fight, and was trying to regain the title in this rematch. Tunney was outboxing Dempsey all night long, but suddenly, in round 7, Dempsey unloaded a furious barrage of punches onto Tunney. Tunney was knocked down for the first time in his career. But Dempsey forgot the new rule and stood over Tunney. Dave Barry refused to start the count until he could get Dempsey into a neutral corner, which took quite a few seconds. Tunney had been on the canvas about 8 seconds before Dave Barry had even counted "One". Tunney ended up getting up at the count of "Nine", which in reality had been about 17 seconds. Needles to say, the fight went the distance and Tunney won the decision.
I don't suppose we are talking about the same Dave Barry?
