Why Julie Lederman left boxing?

If you think judging in boxing is maddening now, former boxing judge Julie Lederman suggests it could be even less reliable in years to come due to the reduction of club shows that are a judge’s proving ground.

“There are not a lot of clubs shows anymore,” Lederman said while appearing this week on the Old Scribes Podcast. “So where will the next generation of judges come from?”

During a lengthy interview on several topics, including why she left judging after 24 years to become a Jets super fan, Lederman said developing into a competent boxing judge is much like becoming a world-class boxer. Experience is gained, skills or honed, and skin is toughened during club shows that were once prominent in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia where Lederman trained to follow in the footsteps of her late father the legendary Harold Lederman.

After scoring more than 700 fights, sometimes as many as nine in one night, Lederman stepped away from boxing a year after her father died. She decided to mourn his death and celebrate life by indulging in one of the passions they shared, Jets football.

National television cameras have focused on her several times during games being the exasperated fan as the Jets go through a disappointing season.  They missed her arriving at 8 a.m. to tailgate with friends taking pictures with fellow fans dressed in green or moving down during games to get a seat on the front row.

“It’s funny, but I’m getting more notoriety being a Jets super fan than I ever did as a boxing judge,” Lederman told Old Scribes. “When my dad passed I said I’m going to do all those things with the Jets that we never got to do together.”

Harold Lederman was one the most respected boxing judges ever. A pharmacist by trade, he began judging title fights in 1967 and remained an active judge until 1999. By then he was already commentating and serving as the “unofficial” judge for World Championship Boxing on HBO where he informed viewers of the rules. He was a fan favorite and also a doting father and Jets season ticket holder.

“I grew up going to all the games as a little girl,” Julie Lederman said. “We went to all the games at Shea Stadium. “He took me everywhere, football games and the fights. He taught me all about sports.”

She was around Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, and other legendary boxers. She also remembers promoters walking around with suitcases full of money and her father telling her the dos and don’ts when they were in a foreign country and the locals weren’t happy their fighter lost a decision.

“There was some crazy stuff that happened, but he taught me how to handle myself, how to be professional,” Julie Lederman said. “They were all life lessons on how to be taken seriously and how to present yourself.”

When she decided to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a judge the path was far from golden. Being Harold’s daughter put her under more scrutiny than others. “I was actually held back longer than most people,” she said. “I did more shadowing than most people did and I worked more club shows.”

She took a huge step judging the third heavyweight championship fight between Evander Holyfield and John Ruiz—a split decision draw--at Foxwoods in December 2001. From there she became a fixture at big events involving  Vasyl Lomachenko, Canelo Alvarez, Shakur Stevenson, Miguel Cotto, Shawn Porter, Terence Crawford, Bernard Hopkins, Kostya Tszyu, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Andre Ward, Heather Hardy, Sergio Martinez, Roy Jones, Jr., Joe Calzaghe, Felix Trinidad, Kelly Pavlik, Laila Ali, Arturo Gatti, Hasim Rahman, Diego Corrales, Paul Malignaggi, and Juan Manuel Marquez among others.

Deciding to mourn through living

After her father died of cancer in 2019, she worked as a judge through the pandemic, officiating bouts at “The Bubble” in Las Vegas for much of 2020. That’s when she decided enough was enough. Working a boxing show every weekend is demanding and offers little time for weekend fun. She had stopped going to most of the Jets games and was exhausted when she did.

A conversation with NFL insider Jay Glazer, a mental health advocate, convinced her there might be more to life. “I ran into Jay at a game and told him I had never really mourned my father’s death,” Lederman said. “He said Julie, what are you doing about it? So I decided I’m doing everything my father and I never got to do which is mostly with the Jets.”

In addition to attending every home game and as many road games as possible, Lederman makes special appearances on behalf of the team. She was chosen by the Jets to be part of their inner circle at the 2021 draft, and this season she was asked as a Jets Super fan to be part of the Good Morning America tailgate kickoff. “I feel like this is my way of saying, ‘Hey Dad, Thank you,’” she said. “It’s like living something we never got to do together.”

Lederman covers a number of other topics in the Old Scribes Podcast: the demise of HBO and Showtime boxing, why she hasn’t given up on Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, why her father would have been “disgusted” by the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul event, and why you need to have thick skin to be a boxing judge.

Give it a listen.

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