World renowned boxing referee takes chance at TV show

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, June 2, 1998 | 11:03 a.m.

He's definitely getting it on.

Mills Lane, the Reno-based boxing referee who gives his instructions to the fighters in the center of the ring and then delivers his trademark expression "Let's Get It On" before the opening bell, is capitalizing on his ever-increasing fame.

His life story as well as many of his views on boxing are detailed in a soon-to-be-released book that utilizes his calling-card phrase as its title.

He also is endorsing a new line of apparel. And, more prominently, the Judge Mills Lane television show is about to go into production in New York and syndication rights already have been sold in 90 percent of the country's major markets.

That show, similar to The People's Court, will debut in August.

"My life has absolutely been turned upside down," Lane said. "It's almost too much to believe. I've worked hard over my life but right now I'm just feeling like a lucky ol' country boy."

Given his busy schedule, Lane was forced to resign his position as a district judge in Washoe County last month. It was a position he had held since 1991.

"Boy, I hated to do that," he said. "I liked being on the bench -- I liked it a lot. I believed in what I did and enjoyed most every aspect of it.

"But with what was in front of me, I told my wife it was something I couldn't pass up. I had to quit the bench."

Lane's TV deal is worth $250,000 per year in a five-year contract that comes up for renewal on an annual basis.

"If it's not a success, I'll go back to being a practicing attorney," he said, referring to his partnership in the Lane, Fahrendorf, Viloria & Oliphant firm in Reno.

The Judge Mills Lane show will vary from similar formats in that it will focus on a single case and will provide greater detail of not only the circumstances that led to the trial, but to Lane's decision-making process as well.

"We'll frame the conflict for the viewer," he said. "We'll have some video to explain the case, then we'll hear from the litigants, then they'll show me in chambers and have me talking about how I reached a verdict.

"One thing about it, I won't have to act. They just want me to be myself."

Taping begins next month in New York.

"I guess it's a big gamble," he said. "Things are off to a good start in getting it syndicated, but, after that, I'm the one who has to make it work."

As his book details, Lane has a habit of making things work and he has been successful in virtually every endeavor he has tackled. A former district attorney in Reno, he has also worked more than 100 world-title fights as a boxing referee.

But it was world-title fight No. 93 that made him something of a household name in America. That fight, last June 28 between heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield and ex-champ Mike Tyson at the Thomas & Mack Center, threw the spotlight on Lane when he disqualified Tyson in the third round for twice biting Holyfield's ears.

"I truly believe Mike Tyson went nuts," Lane says in his book, which was co-authored by Jedwin Smith. "He lost it -- not only his bid to regain the heavyweight championship but his mind as well."

That type of poignant statement is typical of what Lane has to offer in his book, which was recently made available to the media in pre-production form. He doesn't mince his words, whether talking about Tyson, ex-champ Oliver McCall's mental breakdown in the ring or even Henry Akinwande's "terror" at having to face Lennox Lewis last summer at Lake Tahoe.

"I couldn't see any reason not to put it in the book just as I thought it happened," Lane said. "I've always been one to say what I think, so I had to have the book reflect me and the way I really am.

"It does, doesn't it?"

Yes it does, although it took the Holyfield-Tyson incident to bring Lane to national prominence and prompt a publishing company to pick up the manuscript Lane and Smith already had been working on.

"Prior to that Tyson fight, no publishing company wanted it," Lane said. "There's no doubt about it: That one fight changed my entire life. If it hadn't happened the way it did, I'd still be happy but I'd still be sitting on the bench in Reno."