This is the painful moment boxing referee Wes Melton was accidentally punched in the throat during a fight.

The American was in charge of Yoelvis Gomez's super-welterweight clash with Jorge Cota on the undercard of David Benavidez vs David Lemieux.

Gomez backed Cota into a corner of the ring and began to tee off on his more experienced opponent before the bell rang at the end of the third round.

The ref intervened to stop the scrap but accidentally found himself on the receiving end of a punch by the Mexican, who was clearly feeling a little frustrated.

Melton staggered slightly as he turned away but appeared to be okay and managed to end the fight, with Gomez named the winner after going the distance for the first time as a pro.

Gomez kept his unbeaten record intact by improving to a perfect 6-0, while Cota (30-6) fell to two losses in his last three fights.

The Cuban's last fight was a knockout of Clay Collard in Newark last Christmas.

WATCH: Referee Wes Melton was accidentally punched during Yoelvis Gomez's fight with Jorge Cota

Check out the video below...

He previously said: “I want them to feel it.

“I want to hurt people, badly.

"Send them to the hospital, and then apologize to them and wish them well, to see them go back to their families in good health.

"But I go in with the mentality of an assassin.

"If I go with that mentality, it’s because the other fighter will come with that same mentality, to kill me.

"If it comes down to your mom or my mom crying, it will have to be yours.

“I had my punching power already from Cuba.

"Collard was coming off wins over three unbeaten prospects.

"He was well known in boxing.

"People said ‘he’s an easy victim’ and it wasn’t so.

"He was doing things that other people couldn’t do.

"And being an MMA fighter he defeated three unbeaten fighters.

"He had been stopped only once on a liver shot.

"And I always train hard for that punch, so I said ‘OK, as soon as I get him hurt I will try to finish him,’ to see if what people say is true.

"And when I saw him hurt I said ‘It’s now or never’.”

READ MORE: George Kambosos Jr vs Devin Haney: Australian ready for the 'excuses' if he wins

MORE: Mike Tyson reveals his wife has told him to stop flying on public planes after recent altercation