by Ronnie Nathanielsz

Tony Weeks, a sometimes controversial referee, has been named as the third man in the ring for the “Dream Match” between Filipino ring idol Manny Pacquiao and “The Golden Boy” Oscar De La Hoya at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on December 6.
Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer informed insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports about the choice of Weeks.
Kizer also named the three judges for the fight – Dave Moretti, Adelaide Byrd and Stanley Christodoulou.

Weeks has never refereed a Pacquiao fight. In one of his more recent assignments Weeks refereed the battle for the Ring Magazine lightweight belt between Juan Manuel Marquez and Joel Casamayor which Marquez won by a sensational 9th round knockout. He also refereed Pacquiao’s rematch with Mexican legend Marco Antonio Barrera.

Weeks was the referee in the September 17, 2005 lightweight title fight where the champion Leavander Johnson took a bad beating from Jesus Chavez and lost by an eleventh round stoppage although Weeks was criticized by some for not stopping the fight earlier although Johnson himself protested the stoppage. Johnson died five days later from a brain injury and the tragedy had an emotional impact on Weeks who told the Arizona Republic “when something traumatic like that happens, it cant 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 long afterwards Weeks was assigned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission to referee the super bantamweight title fight between Israel Vasquez and Oscar Larios.

Weeks also came under criticism for his handling of the 10 round TKO suffered by Jose Luis Castillo at the hands of Diego Corrales in what was regarded as one of the bloodiest battles of all time.

Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank who was Castillo’s promoter ripped Weeks saying he allowed Corrales to spit out his mouthpiece twice after he was knocked down and have it washed which gave him time to recover. However, Weeks claimed he did everything by the rules.