Harvey is no Buffer

Steve Harvey has made a name for himself as a stand-up comedian and host of several TV shows, including “Family Feud.” The other day, he became the butt of jokes and target of scorn after a horrible blunder in proclaiming the wrong Miss Universe at the pageant in Las Vegas.

Harvey, 58, won’t ever be hired by Bob Arum to announce Top Rank fights in the ring for sure. Imagine the bedlam if Harvey declared the wrong boxer the winner. Not only will fans go crazy but the bettors will likely skin him alive. Let’s face it, Harvey is no Michael Buffer or Bob Barker.

It was Harvey’s debut as the Miss Universe host and he bungled the job, big-time. Someone said the teleprompter had it wrong and Harvey just read what was on the screen. But Harvey was handed a card detailing who was second runner-up, first runner-up and winner so he should’ve cross-checked to confirm. You don’t ever want to declare a loser the winner because as Harvey found out the hard way, you’ll never hear the end of it.

Worse, Harvey rammed a foot in his mouth when on twitter, he apologized to Miss Philippians and Miss Columbia in a rampage of errors. The tweet was later deleted and corrected to read Miss Philippines and Miss Colombia. He called the mis-announcement an honest mistake. Pageant organizers said it was a human error.

Harvey’s supposed to be a seasoned professional with a long list of radio, TV and film credits. He’s also a book author. Speaking in public is like second nature to Harvey. He’s not supposed to make a mistake of this gravity. There are calls to forgive Harvey in the spirit of Christmas. Sure, let’s forgive him. But I doubt if anyone will ever take him seriously from now on.

Harvey’s apology was a life-saver. He owned up to the mistake. Actually, he had no choice. The real winner would’ve been proclaimed sooner or later and if Harvey didn’t correct himself, he would’ve been branded persona non grata in every country in the world except Colombia.

Harvey’s been forgiven by Miss Universe Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach. It’s not certain if Ariadna Gutierrez Arevalo, who wore the Miss Universe crown for about 60 seconds, shook his hand after the blunder. Arevalo could sue the pageant organizers for damages in causing mental anguish and embarrassment before millions of viewers. She might even win the case.

In boxing history, it’s happened that a referee raised the hand of the loser, particularly in amateur competitions where winners are not announced by name but by the color of their corner. That could cause some confusion if a referee is color-blind. In the Olympics, there is no ring announcer only a public address announcer who color-codes the winner. So it’s up to the referee to raise the hand of the right winner.

In 1976, British referee Mickey Vann was on trial in a six-round pro fight in Manchester. Wally Thom, an experienced arbiter, was at ringside to supervise the action and decide the winner.

“The custom then in all British fights was for the referee to act as sole judge and proclaim the winner of a fight,” wrote Mike Fitzgerald and Patrick Morley in their book “Third Man In The Ring.” “Since Vann was just an apprentice, the actual decisions would be made by Thom and transmitted to Vann. The fight went the distance and at its conclusion, Vann motioned for both boxers to come to the center of the ring for the decision. Then, he raised the hand of the wrong boxer. The crowd started to boo and the real winner was hastily announced. Vann was humiliated and thought his career was over. But it wasn’t.” Vann went on to become one of the best English referees ever.

Vann recounted the error in his book “Give Me A Ring.” “Wally told me that if it went the distance, I was to look down at him and he would point to the corner of the winner,” he said. “It went to a decision but when I looked down at Wally, he was deep in conversation with the geezer next to him. It seemed to take an eternity for him to look my way. The crowd was a bit restive, wondering why I hadn’t given a verdict. Eventually, he looked up and pointed. I went over and raised the lad’s arm, feeling increasingly worried because I thought the other fighter had won by quite a big margin. What I hadn’t realized was that while I was looking at Wally, the fighters had switched corners for the usual handshakes with the opposing seconds. I’d given the verdict to the wrong man. Nat Basso, the announcer, got in the ring, shaking his head and Wally was yelling, ‘You idiot, not him … the other one.’ Completely humiliated, I had to go over and lift the other fighter’s arm.”

Lucky for Vann, the fight wasn’t a main event on pay per view. If he made a mistake in raising the wrong boxer’s arm in a big fight, he would’ve been lynched. Vann made up for the error by straightening out his career. Unfortunately, it isn’t likely that Harvey – who once tried his luck as a pro boxer and gave up – will get a second chance at a Miss Universe pageant.