Irish fight fans were delighted to see the fleet-footed referee Mickey Vann dance around Dublin rings with the kind of grace that had one fight fan suggesting he should be on the Strictly dancefloor and not the canvas last weekend.

The legendary ref is deemed too old to take charge of British Boxing Board of Control bouts, but the BUI have no such age cap and Vann was in referee action on both Friday and Saturday night in the capital.

Micheal Van Norman to give the referee, who has been a man in the middle since 1985, his full name, has adjudicated at a number of Irish fight nights this year and received praise and plaudits from the knowledgeable Irish fan.

It seems the respect is mutual as Vann heaped praise back on the Irish pundit in his Boxing News column this week. In a piece entitled ‘Why Irish fans are the cream of the crop’   Vann  applauded Irish fight fans for the patience they showed after being forced to wait over an hour for action to resume in Friday’s Red Cow show, the respect they bestowed officials, the atmosphere they generated on Friday and Saturday at the National Stadium and more.

“This wasn’t in England, it was in Dublin, and everyone came to enjoy a great night of boxing and that is what they got,” Vann wrote in his piece.