The Nevada State Athletic Commission appointed Kenny Bayless as the referee for the highly anticipated mega-fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao on May 2nd at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The popular referee has refereed five fights for Floyd Mayweather Jr., including the undefeated pound-for-pound king’s professional debut against Roberto Apodaca back in October 1996. In addition, Bayless was the referee in Mayweather’s most recent fight against Marcos Maidana in September 2013, a rematch following a hotly-contested fight in May 2013, which resulted in a controversial majority decision victory for Mayweather.
Bayless, who has also refereed seven Pacquiao fights, is generally regarded to be the best referee in the sport. As a result, Bayless will earn a record $25,000, and the three judges will each earn $20,000. The three judges include Burt Clements, Dave Moretti, and Glenn Feldman.
Burt Clements has been judging professionally for the past 26 years, but he’s also remembered as the judge responsible for the scoring error in the 2004 fight between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez, the first of four encounters.
Pacquiao knocked down Marquez three times in the opening frame. A point should be deducted for each knockdown unless the individual knockdown comes back to out-box the opponent; then it’s entirely in the judge’s hands, but it wasn’t the case here. It should have been a 10-6 round, which Clements admitted.
“It used to be that a three-knockdown round was 10-7,” Clements told the San Diego Union-Tribune.” “I take full responsibility. Had I been aware, I would have scored it 10-6.”
With a correct scorecard, Manny Pacquiao would have been the winner by split decision. In addition, Clements surprisingly had the first Mayweather-Maidana fight one-sided, giving Floyd a 117-111 score, while most had the fight as close as 115-113 or even a draw.
Conspiracy theorists are going to have a field day at the selections.
Personally, I’m surprised that Michael Pernick was not considered. On the other hand, the 23-year veteran hasn’t judged a fight since Manny Pacquiao’s last fight against Chris Algieri, and he scored the first Maidana fight a draw. Let’s hope we can move on from the pre-fight drama and see the best man win on May 2nd.
