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Becoming a Referee involves several steps to ensure you’re equipped to make fair and informed decisions in the boxing ring.

The course covers:
  • Rules
  • Scoring
  • Judging breakdown
  • Decisions
  • Skills Bouts
  • Timekeeping
  • Loss of Consciousness
  • Weigh in
  • Scenarios

Here’s a breakdown of the process:

To advance to a Referee, you must meet certain requirements and complete specific steps. Here’s what you need to do:

Eligibility Requirements

  • 12 months as a Grade C Judge: You must have been actively judging for at least 12 months.
  • You need to have judged a minimum of 400 bouts before taking the next step.

Grade C Referee Course

  • If you are interested in becoming a Grade C Referee, please notify your Regional Officials Educator. If you meet the criteria, they will be able to inform you on availability of courses.
  • These courses can run alone or alongside a Judge/Timekeeper course.
  • Once eligible, you’ll need to pass the Referee written exam. The exam papers are provided and will be marked by England Boxing.

The cost of the course is £30

Practical Assessment

  • If successful, you will be invited to participate in a practical assessment (probationary bouts). This involves refereeing at local shows and events.  Your performance will be evaluated by an A Grade Referee or someone with World Boxing status who will notify England Boxing once the required standard is achieved.

Certification

  •  Once approved, your qualification will be updated on the Locker and a certificate will be issued to you by England Boxing.

Eligible to Judge Club Shows

  • The regional educator will inform the regional appointments secretary of your achievements and you will be appointed to referee at club shows.

Referee Grades

England Boxing is committed to the development of high-quality officials through a structured upgrade pathway, aligned with performance, experience, and values. This pathway is managed regionally for upgrades to B Grade, and nationally by the Technical Rules Sub-Committee for progression to Major Panel and international opportunities.

To become a Grade C Referee, from a Grade C Judge, you must have a minimum of 12 months as a Grade C Judge and 400 judged/refereed bouts (combined), which can be evidenced on the Locker. These must include assessments at regional and national events

Minimum of 12 months and 400 refereed bouts. The referee must keep a logbook of all the bouts as evidence, which will be in the Locker.

Minimum of 12 months and 400 refereed bouts; 25% must be at regional level plus Regional recommendation by the Officials Educator.

This structured approach ensures a clear development pathway for officials, supports quality and consistency in officiating, and aligns with England Boxing’s commitment to integrity, inclusivity, and excellence across all levels of the sport.

To maintain the highest standards of officiating, officials may be subject to refresher training, re-examination, or de-grading under the following circumstances:

Refresher or Re-Examination May Be Required If:

  • An official has not been active for 18 consecutive months or more
  • Performance concerns are raised by senior officials, educators, or assessors
  • A breach of England Boxing policies, values, or codes of conduct is identified

In such cases, the official may be asked to attend a refresher session, complete a reassessment at their current grade, or repeat the relevant course content.

 

Officials may be stood down temporarily or de-graded permanently by the Regional Secretary or Technical Rules Director in the following circumstances:

  • Persistent failure to meet expected officiating standards
  • Evidence of misconduct, safeguarding concerns, or behaviour bringing the sport into disrepute
  • Failure to engage with required training, CPD, or policy updates
  • Failure to comply with reasonable requests to officiate or attend mandatory events without valid reason

All de-grading decisions must be recorded in writing and submitted to the Technical Rules Sub-Committee for formal logging.

Where possible, England Boxing are committed to delivering courses that are inclusive and accessible to all. When you book onto a course via The Locker, you will have the option of adding your Reasonable Adjustment requests. England Boxing will work with you to accommodate these, where applicable.

If you are unable to add your Reasonable Adjustments via The Locker, please complete the Reasonable Adjustments Request document by clicking here.

The information you provide allows us to adapt environments, resources and delivery to ensure the course is inclusive and accessible. This information must be provided at least 7 days in advance, so reasonable adjustments can be reviewed and implemented where applicable

For further enquiries, contact support@englandboxing.zendesk.com.