By Jake Donovan

The Nevada State Athletic Commission is putting its best foot forward in its assignment of referee and judges for the state’s first big main event of 2017.

Veteran referee Kenny Bayless has been given the call to serve as third man for the highly anticipated rematch between Carl Frampton and Leo Santa Cruz. The featherweight title fight takes place January 28 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, with Showtime to televise the event live.

The three judges assigned to the bout will be longtime Nevada-based officials Dave Moretti and Burt A. Clements, and Connecticut’s Glenn Feldman.

None of the aforementioned officials have ever worked a pro bout involving Frampton (23-0, 14KOs), the 2016 BoxingScene.com Fighter of the Year who fights in Nevada for the first time in his career.

Santa Cruz (32-1-1. 18KOs) has twice before fought in the presence of Bayless as a referee, first in March ’14 when he scored a 12-round decision over Cristian Mijares and in Jan. ’15 during his 8th round knockout of Jesus Ruiz in the final defense of his super bantamweight title. Both bouts took place at the MGM Grand.

Clements and Moretti were both at ringside as judges for the Ruiz bout, with their scores of 69-64 in favor of Santa Cruz at the time of the stoppage right in line with how most viewers saw the title fight. Clements also served as a ringside official for Santa Cruz’ 2nd round knockout of Manuel Roman, which took place in Sept. ’14.

Feldman has never been assigned a bout involving either boxer.

The matchup is a sequel to one of the very best fights of 2016, in which Frampton claimed a hard-fought majority decision victory last July at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The win solidified Frampton’s Fighter of the Year campaign, as he was recognized by many outlets around the world in addition to this website.

On the somber side, it served as the first pro loss for Santa Cruz, now a dethroned former three-time champion. To this day, the Southern California-based Mexican boxer contests that he should’ve been declared the winner but at the same time also admits to have been somewhat mentally distracted by the dilemma of his father and trainer, Jose Santa Cruz battling cancer.

Also on the show are two more title fights.

Dejan Zlaticinan (22-0, 15KOs) makes the first defense of his lightweight title as he faces unbeaten former two-division titlist Miguel Angel “Mikey” Garcia (35-0, 29KOs). Tony Weeks will serve as referee for the contest.

Between the two, Weeks has only worked just one prior bout – an Aug. ’08 featherweight contest where Garcia scored an 8th round stoppage of Jose Hernandez. Zlaticinan – an unbeaten lightweight from Montenegro who won the title last June – fights for the first time in Las Vegas.

On the SHO Extreme portion of the evening, unbeaten Lee Selby defends his portion of the featherweight crown versus former titlist Jonathan Barros. The referee will be Russell Mora, who has never worked a contest involving either boxer.

Selby (23-1, 8KOs) makes his Las Vegas debut while attempting the third defense of the title he claimed in a May ’15 technical decision win over Evgeny Gradovich. Barros (42-4-1, 22KOs) has fought in Vegas just once before – a Nov. ’12 knockout loss to Garcia. He held a featherweight belt from Dec. ’10 to Nov. ’11 before conceding the title to Celestino Caballero in their rematch.

All officials were appointed and approved unanimously by the chairs during the monthly agenda hearing which was held on Friday at NSAC headquarters in Las Vegas. Bayless will earn $2,250 for his role as referee, while each of the three assigned judges will be paid $1,950, regardless of whether or not the bout goes to the scorecards. 

Twitter: @JakeNDaBox_v2