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https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/...ee-dies-age-85
Mills was known for his catchphrase "Let's git it on!" Became famous for disqualifying Tyson in the "Bite Fight" with Evander Holyfied. Did over 100 championship fights.
Here he is in the Tyson-McNeely fight telling the fighters to "knock that shit off!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vnOfawuQF4
Did the coroner count to 10 before declaring him dead?
I used to play poker at the Cal Neva/Reno with Mills. Mainly 4-8 half kill Omaha 8. This goes back over 20 years ago. Besides being a boxing referee Mills was a district attorney and judge in Reno. All the big time boxers of the era loved to have Mills as the referee.
He got real famous for disqualifying Tyson against Holyfield in their 2nd fight. Mills was given one of those judge shows. It lasted a year. He was already retired as a judge. So he came back to Reno and did "Let's git it on!" commercials for law firms and car dealerships.
And he played poker everyday at the Cal Neva. He had sent a lot of men to prison and put 7 on death row. So he carried a gun in his boot.
About the death penalty he told me "It's cheaper to water a poppy than feed a prisoner."
It was long about 2002 he hadn't shown up at the poker game and we got word he had a stroke. It put him in a wheelchair and badly affected his speech. He made a return to the poker room about a year later with one of his kids pushing the wheelchair. That was the last time I saw him.
The most shocked I've been that a person wasn't already dead since Wilford Brimley tapped out. Guessing he completely fell out of the public eye since he fell ill in 2002 and apparently resorted to grinding low stakes with the fails like our dear Mickey.
Remember him mainly from Celebrity Deathmatch (fun when I was 11-12) and his court show which I believe was right before/after Jerry Springer.
:laterfag
At that time Mills was a retired multi-millionaire. He didn't play low limit poker for money. He played to get out of the house and socialize. He wasn't a winning player but he could well afford it. After his stroke in 2002 he never played poker again.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sloppy Joe
[QUOTE=mickeycrimm;1064810]At that time Mills was a retired multi-millionaire. He didn't play low limit poker for money. He played to get out of the house and socialize. He wasn't a winning player but he could well afford it. After his stroke in 2002 he never played poker again.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sloppy Joe
PS: I once asked Mills who he thought was the best fighter. He said "Roberto Duran. He loved it. I could see it in his eyes."