Full list of referees and judges for Last Crescendo event

Feb 22, 2025 • 10:52 AM ET

Beterbiev Bivol officials

England's Kevin Parker has landed one of the most prestigious gigs of his 13-year officiating career by being selected to referee the world light heavyweight championship rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

If the first fight is anything to go by, which ended in a majority decision win for Beterbiev, it will be the judges whose performances will be more closely monitored, however. The three men who might decide the outcome are Monaco's Jean-Robert Laine, America's Mike Fitzgerald and Deon Dwarte from South Africa.

The officials for the other bouts on the Last Crescendo bill, which is governed by the British Boxing Board of Control, are as follows:

Joseph Parker vs. Martin Bakole, 12 rounds, heavyweight

Referee: Steve Gray (England)

Judges: Howard Foster (England); Adam Height (Australia); Don Trella (USA)

Shakur Stevenson vs. Josh Padley, 12 rounds, lightweight

Referee: Victor Loughlin (Scotland)

Judges: Kieran McCann (England); Predrag Aleksic (Montenegro); Pavel Hynek (Czech Republic)

Carlos Adames vs. Hamzah Sheeraz, 12 rounds, middleweight

Referee: Hector Afu (England)

Judges: Barry Lindenman (Panama); Omar Mintun Snr (Mexico); Guido Cavalleri (Italy)

Vergil Ortiz Jnr vs. Israil Madrimov, 12 rounds, junior middleweight

Referee: Kieran McCann (England)

Judges: Barry Lindenman (Panama); Kevin Parker (England); Guido Cavalleri (Italy)

Zhilei Zhang vs. Agit Kabayel, 12 rounds, heavyweight

Referee: Mark Lyson (England)

Judges: Victor Loughlin (Scotland); Ray Perez (England); Mike Ross (Mexico)

Joshua Buatsi vs. Callum Smith, 12 rounds, light heavyweight

Referee: Howard Foster (England)

Judges: Steve Gray (England); Antonio Marogna (Italy); Richard Blouin (Canada)

Matt Christie Profile

Matt Christie, a lifelong fight fan, has worked in boxing for more than 20 years. He left Boxing News in 2024 after 14 years, nine of which were spent as editor-in-chief. Before that, he was the producer of weekly boxing show “KOTV.” Now the co-host of “The Opening Bell” podcast and regularly used in the UK as a pundit, Matt was named as the Specialist Correspondent of the Year at the prestigious Sports Journalism Awards in 2021, which was the seventh SJA Award he accepted during his stint in the hot seat at Boxing News. The following year, he was inducted into the British Boxing Hall of Fame. He is a member of the BWAA and has been honored several times in their annual writing awards.