The Nevada State Athletic Commission on Wednesday appointed referee Robert Byrd and judges Robert Hoyle, Patricia Morse Jarman and Glenn Feldman to work the fight between welterweight titleholder Timothy Bradley Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez.
Bradley (30-0, 12 KOs), making his second title defense, will fight Marquez (55-6-1, 40 KOs), the Mexican star and four-division titleholder, on Oct. 12 (HBO PPV) at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
It is the first major Nevada card since Floyd Mayweather Jr. outpointed Saul "Canelo" Alvarez on Sept. 14 in Las Vegas by a majority decision, a result that drew shock around the world because judge C.J. Ross scored what appeared to be a one-sided Mayweather victory as a draw. Ross has since stepped down.
Ross was also one of two judges, along with Duane Ford, at the center of a worldwide controversy last year when they scored Bradley as a split decision winner over Manny Pacquiao in a fight most thought Pacquiao had easily won.
In the wake of Ross' Mayweather-Alvarez scoring, NSAC chairman Bill Brady promised a more thorough discussion of commission executive director Keith Kizer's recommendations for referees and judges to work world title fights. Although the commission is responsible for the appointments, the panel typically rubber stamps Kizer's recommendations from a pool of officials he compiles.
However, at the commission's monthly meeting, Kizer was heavily questioned by the panel on how he compiles his list of officials and why he elected to recommend the officials he did.
Kizer walked the commission through his detailed process, which includes getting input from the fighter camps, the promoter and the sanctioning organization involved in the bout.
For Bradley-Marquez, for example, Kizer held a teleconference on Tuesday that included the participation of both fighter camps, promoter Top Rank, Brady, commissioner Francisco Aguilar and a representative from the Nevada attorney general's office. During the call, Kizer got input and let the camps air any possible grievances over potential officials.
At the meeting, matchmaker Bruce Trampler of Top Rank was questioned by the commission about whether there were any issues with the officials in Kizer's pool. Trampler said neither fighter nor Top Rank had any objections.
The commissioners then questioned Kizer before eventually approving his recommendations on a 5-0 vote.
Byrd will be refereeing his second Bradley fight. He was also the third man in the ring for the June 2012 fight with Pacquiao. Byrd worked one previous Marquez fight, his seventh-round knockout of Manuel Medina to win a vacant featherweight title in 2003, Marquez's first word title. Byrd also served as a judge for a 1997 Marquez knockout win.
Hoyle has judged two Marquez fights, scoring his 2011 majority decision loss to Pacquiao in their third fight as a draw. He also was a judge for Marquez's knockout win against Michael Katsidis in 2010. Morse Jarman will be judging her seventh Marquez fight. Feldman, who is from Connecticut, will be judging his second Marquez fight.
None of the officials has worked a previous Bradley fight.
The commission also appointed the officials for the vacant featherweight world title bout on the undercard between former titlist Orlando Salido (39-12-2, 27 KOs) of Mexico and Orlando Cruz (20-2-1, 10 KOs) of Puerto Rico.
After more questions for Kizer, the commission voted 5-0 on his recommendations of referee Kenny Bayless and judges Jerry Roth, Glenn Trowbridge and Ed Kugler, a judge from Colorado.