Boxing Referee Nearly Reaches End of His Rope

Police had to intervene to save a boxing referee from being hanged by angry fans in the southern Yugoslav town of Titograd, a police spokesman said Monday.

Enraged by referee Miodrag Bozjak’s deciding vote Sunday in the defeat of a local boxer, the fans stormed the ring and began dragging him out of the sports hall.

A rope had been strung over a nearby tree branch when police, arriving by helicopter, saved the referee.

Police detained four people but later released them. Local police quoted the four as saying they only wanted to frighten the referee.