When I originally stopped boxing many years ago, I became a boxing coach, which seemed a natural move and one I enjoyed.

But soon after, I went into flying in the Royal Air Force (RAF) and that prevented me being able to be at the gym regularly. I wanted to remain involved with my beloved sport of boxing because it had given me so much in my life and it is such an exciting sport.

Therefore, after speaking to someone at a boxing tournament, officiating seemed a good alternative way to be involved and the rest, as they say, is history.

Refereeing and work in the RAF can be difficult to combine as we never know what activity is going to happen next, but refereeing the new amateur global boxing tournament World Series of Boxing (WSB) has really helped my being the squadron commander and the boss!

But seriously, I am lucky to have a really great team of officers working for me at the RAF and we all share and plan our time carefully so it works out well.

One of the most important aspects for all referees in the WSB has been adapting from International Boxing Federation (AIBA) competitions. For those of us who were used to the old amateur boxing scoring system, the concept may not be as difficult to adjust to WSB scoring, although a boxer dominating the opponent draws value in the score of a round because it is like professional boxing.

I think those who enjoy and follow professional boxing will understand and adapt more easily but in truth, it is not too much of a problem when you remain alive to the fact it is different, like professional boxing.

The overriding priority of the WSB is the safety of the boxers, which was addressed at a special course for future WSB referees and judges held in Istanbul over the summer. Some things are exactly the same and safety of the boxers is the most important focus.

We have an additional wish in WSB to ensure that the bout can flow and not be disturbed. For very minor infringements we encourage the boxers without stopping the bout through verbally telling them, in very simple terms, where they need to refrain from infringements.



We can also touch the boxers where necessary to ensure they break more quickly or to recover similar situations. The timekeeper's clock doesn't stop when the referee shouts "stop", only the boxers do, so this is why WSB may seem less intrusive or more relaxed.

But it's just because it is different - if we do need to stop the bout we call a 'time-out' and give the hand signal to the timekeeper: for example if a boxer's boot laces need to be re-tied.

The first bouts I refereed for the WSB were at the encounter between Paris United and the Moscow Kremlin Bears and, ironically, the most memorable bout I officiated to date was actually in Moscow when a young Ricky Hatton (the light welterweight world champion) was fighting.

He literally fired his continuous shots from the first bell like they were bullets from a machine gun. I had to end the bout early but the Russians were great sports and believed it to be the right thing for their boxer - they knew Hatton was a very powerful young amateur as well as a future professional world champion. I think Hatton would have been very good in the WSB.

It is an extremely exciting initiative and will likely have a positive effect not just on those boxers involved but also on AIBA boxing - perhaps for both increasing external interest in boxing and possibly benefiting how we consider our future practices.

While the duration and the tone of the boxing in WSB are different, so are several of the rules, so we all keep re-reading and re-programming ourselves prior to all tournaments because our responses and knowledge of acting upon the regulations has to be instinctive and automatic.

Ray Morley from Liverpool has been a top amateur boxing referee for 15 years. He is one of England's few 3-star AIBA referees - the highest level attainable – and was selected to officiate at this year's Commonwealth Games in Delhi. He has also been in the Royal Air Force since 1979 and is now Officer Commanding Operations Squadron at RAF Lyneham where he is responsible for the coordination, direction and support of military and civilian flying along with all flight safety and contingency planning