The Nevada State Athletic Commission on Tuesday assigned three veteran judges and a referee highly familiar with the work of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao to work their bout May 2 at MGM Grand.
The judges will be Dave Moretti of Las Vegas, Burt A. Clements of Reno and Glenn Feldman of Connecticut, and the referee will be Kenny Bayless, who?s handled seven Pacquiao bouts and five of Mayweather?s.
?We take this responsibility very seriously, and understand with this being watched worldwide, the selection of these judges has to be second to none,? Nevada commission executive director Bob Bennett told The Times before Tuesday?s announcement.
?We will only select officials with a proven track record of high-profile fights, with me evaluating a litany of statistical data to ensure these judges have been successful in high-impact fights.?
Clements, 62, of Reno, has worked only one Pacquiao fight, and his mistake cost the Filipino a split-decision triumph over Juan Manuel Marquez in the first of their four fights.
Pacquiao knocked down Marquez three times in the first round, and should have earned a 10-6 score. Clements admitted immediately afterward that he didn?t realize he could score a round anymore lopsided than 10-7. That extra point resulted in his 113-113 scorecard that forced a draw.
Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum said he didn?t have an explanation for why Clements hasn?t worked a Pacquiao fight since, and praised the assignments of the officials.
?Couldn?t be better,? Arum said. ?Moretti and Clements are tremendous judges, honorable guys, and Glenn Feldman is terrific, has a very good reputation. These are extraordinarily good officials from the standpoint of competency.?
Not only did Bayless work Mayweather?s Oct. 11, 1996, pro debut at Texas Station Casino in Las Vegas, he did the unbeaten fighter?s most recent bout, a September unanimous decision over Marcos Maidana.
Bayless? seven assignments with Pacquiao date to 2006, starting with the Filipino?s third-round knockout of Erik Morales in their third meeting through Pacquiao?s unanimous-decision triumph over Timothy Bradley last year.
?Kenny Bayless is the best referee in the world,? Arum said. ?If I had to choose the most fair, able referee, he?d be the guy I?d pick.?
Moretti, 70, of Las Vegas, is considered perhaps the top boxing judge in the world.
He?s worked nine of Mayweather?s last 14 fights, and has worked six of Pacquiao?s bouts.
Moretti turned in 116-112 scores (eight rounds to four) in favor of Mayweather in 2006 against Zab Judah, in 2013 over Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez and in last year?s competitive first fight against Argentina?s Marcos Maidana.
With Pacquiao, Moretti and his two fellow judges each scored Morales a 115-113 winner in their first bout in 2005. Moretti had Pacquiao comfortably ahead before his stoppages of Oscar De La Hoya and Miguel Cotto in 2008 and 2009, respectively.
In Pacquiao?s narrow third fight against Marquez, in which punch statistics gave the Mexican an edge, Moretti scored the bout 115-113 for Pacquiao.
Clements has been assigned to three Mayweather bouts, awarding him a dominant 120-107 score in 2009 against Marquez and the widest edge among the three judges, 117-111, in the first Maidana fight.
Arum dismissed the Pacquiao-Marquez miscue by Clements.
?Here?s how honorable the guy is: He admitted the mistake that night,? Arum said. ?He could?ve made excuses ? could’ve said he didn?t think the third knockdown was a knockdown, something like that ? and you?d be suspicious. He said, ?No, I made a mistake.? A guy like that is an admirable person, an honorable guy.?
After flawed judging contributed to Pacquiao’s loss to Bradley in their first bout in 2013, and left Mayweather with just a majority decision after dominating Alvarez, the Nevada commission permitted promoters a process to argue for the rejection of a selected official. That did not happen in this case.
Feldman, a former sports writer who founded the Connecticut Boxing Hall of Fame, has worked only one fight featuring Mayweather or Pacquiao, and that one ended in the third round, a Mayweather technical knockout win in 1998.
On Saturday, Feldman gave junior-welterweight Lucas Matthysse a 115-113 nod in his majority decision victory over Ruslan Provodnikov in New York ? a score most viewed as just.
?There?s going to be 18,000 screaming people in that [MGM] arena on May 2, the attention of all the media at ringside, the world watching on television,? Bennett said. ?I need a judge who can set all that aside and focus on the three minutes of each round.
?Doing this right is a wonderful opportunity for the sport of boxing.?
