By Jake Donovan

Tony Weeks will serve as third man in the ring for the upcoming super middleweight title fight between Arthur Abraham and unbeaten Gilberto Ramirez, which takes place April 9 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The veteran referee from Las Vegas was appointed in a unanimous vote by the five-person panel from Nevada State Athletic Commission during its monthly agenda hearing Tuesday at state headquarters in Las Vegas.

Accompanying Weeks will be the three ringside judges - Adalaide Byrd (Nevada), Glenn Trowbridge (Nevada) and Glenn Feldman (Connecticut). The bout will serve as the HBO Pay-Per-View-televised chief support to the welterweight rubber match between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley Jr.

Weeks, Byrd and Trowbridge all worked as officials for Ramirez' last ring appearance - a 10-round decision win over Gevorg Khatchikian last November in Las Vegas. Byrd and Trowbridge scored the contest 99-91 and 100-90, respectively.

None of the three have ever been assigned any bouts involving Abraham. Conversely, Feldman has never before judged any of Ramirez' fights but served ringside for Abraham's 12-round win over Paul Smith in their rematch last February in Germany, scoring the bout 116-112 in favor of the defending super middleweight titlist.

Abraham (44-4, 29KOs) attempts the 6th defense of his third title tour. His most recent win came less than a full day after Ramirez' aforementioned victory over Khatchikian, barely edging out veteran contender Martin Murray last November in Hannover, Germany.

The upcoming showdown with Ramirez (33-0, 24KOs) - who enters his first career title fight - marks Abraham's fourth fight in the United States. The Armenia-born, Germany-based boxer made his stateside debut in June '08, knocking out Edison Miranda in a rematch to their tightly contested middleweight title fight in Sept. '06.

The repeat win over Miranda presently serves as Abraham's lone stateside win, having suffered his first career loss in an 11th round disqualification versus Andre Dirrell in their March '12 clash, which was part of Showtime's lengthy Super Six super middleweight tournament. More than a year later came his third career loss in a span of four fights, as well as his second loss in the U.S. in dropping a 12-round decision to Andre Ward in May '11.

Abraham has since gone 12-1, including two separate title reigns at super middleweight. Both came on the strength of decision wins over Robert Stieglitz, first in Aug. '12 and again in their March '14 rubber match. Sandwiched in between was a fluke injury stoppage loss to Stieglitz in their March '13 rematch, though ultimately having the last laugh with an emphatic 6th round knockout in their fourth fight last July.

Ramirez was granted the title opportunity by means of making his way to the mandatory slot within the World Boxing Organization (WBO) super middleweight rankings. Following their respective wins last November, the two camps entered negotiations that were on several occasions close enough to reaching a deal to where their purse bid hearing was twice delayed.

A stalemate eventually resulted in such a hearing, with Abraham's promoter Sauerland Event edging Top Rank by just $63,000 USD ($1.563 million to $1.5 million) to earn the right to promote the fight.

Initial plans had the bout heading to Germany. However, a deal well after the purse bid hearing convinced Sauerland to bring the fight to the United States, given the magnitude of the event on which it supports - and thus enhancing what has become an attractive undercard to a headliner that wasn't particularly in high demand.

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox