by Ronnie Nathanielsz

Tony Weeks has been chosen by the Nevada State Athletic Commission to referee the third fight in the much-awaited showdown between pound-for-pound king and reigning WBO welterweight champion  Manny Pacquiao and WBO/WBA bantamweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez.

It will be the third time Weeks will serve as third man in the ring in a Pacquiao fight having previously worked the Pacquiao-Oscar De La Hoya “Dream Fight” on December 6, 2008 and Pacquiao’s rematch with Marco Antonio Barrera on October 6, 2007.

Weeks has also refereed three previous bouts of Marquez including his September 19, 2009  bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr, his clash with Joel Casamayor on September 13, 2008 and the Marquez-Orlando Salido bout on September 18, 2004.

Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer informed the Manila Standard that aside from referee Weeks, the three judges named for the fight were Robert Hoyle, Glenn Trowbridge and Dave Moretti.

Hoyle was a judge in Marquez’ 9th round TKO of Michael Katisidis on November 27, 2010  and at the time of the stoppage had Marquez ahead 77-74.

Trowbridge was a judge when Marquez won a unanimous twelve round decision over Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz and scored the fight for Marquez by a lopsided 118-110 while Moretti was one of three judges in the Marquez-Floyd Mayweather Jr fight and scored it 119-108 for Mayweather.

Moretti was a judge in several Pacquiao fights including the Shane Mosley bout last May 7 in which he scored a 120-108 shutout for Pacquiao while Trowbridge had Pacquiao winning 119-108.

Moretti had Pacquiao leading 108-100 when Pacquiao stopped Miguel Cotto in the 12th round on November 14, 2009 while Trowbridge’s scorecard in Pacquiao’s 2nd round knockout of Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton was 10-7 at the end of the opening round when Pacquiao dropped Hatton twice.

Moretti was also a judge in the De La Hoya fight and when “The Golden Boy” retired in the 8th round had Pacquiao by an 80-71 shutout.

In the first Pacquiao-Erik “El Terrible” Morales bout Moretti scored the fight 115-113 for the Mexican just like the two other judges on March 19, 2005 while in the rematch he had Pacquiao ahead by a point 86-85 when the fight was stopped on January 21, 2006.

Trowbridge was a judge in Pacquiao-Morales III which Pacquiao won by a 3rd round knockout while he also officiated in the rematch with Barrera where he had Pacquiao by a lopsided 118-109 margin.

Weeks has come under some criticism in the past but is today regarded as one of the top three referees alongside Kenny Bayless and Vic Drakulich.

In a lightweight title fight in September 17, 2005 when champion Leavander Johnson took a bad beating from Jesus Chavez and lost by an 11th round stoppage, Weeks was criticized by some for not stopping the fight earlier even though Johnson protested the stoppage. The champion died five days later from a brain injury and his death had an emotional impact on Weeks who told the Arizona Republic “when something traumatic like that happens it can’t help but affect you.”

While Weeks said the death of Johnson didn’t change his desire to be a referee it “heightened my awareness.” Not much later Weeks was named as referee by the NSAC for the super bantamweight title fight between Israel Vasquez and Oscar Larios.

Weeks also came under some criticism for the way he handled the 10th round TKO that Jose Luis Castillo suffered at the hands of Diego Corrales in what was regarded as one of the bloodiest battles of all time. In fact Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum who was Castillo’s promoter at that time ripped Weeks claiming he allowed Corrales top spit out his mouthpiece twice  after he was knocked down and had it washed which gave Corrales time to recover. Weeks defended his decision stating he did everything by the rules.