by David P. Greisman
When light heavyweight Sergey Kovalev defends his three world titles against Nadjib Mohammedi on July 25 in Las Vegas, the third man in the ring will be Kenny Bayless.
Bayless was named referee during the June 11 meeting of the Nevada Athletic Commission, which also voted to approve the request of Main Events to promote the card at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
He has not worked fights before involving either boxer, according to BoxRec.com.
The judges, meanwhile, will be Adalaide Byrd, Robert Hoyle and Steve Weisfeld.
None of those judges is listed as having worked a Mohammedi fight before. Only Weisfeld is listed as having been on official scoring duties for a Kovalev bout: He was a judge for Kovalev’s technical knockouts of Darnell Boone in 2012 and Gabriel Campillo in 2013.
Jolene Mizzone of Main Events said there were no objections to these officials from the promoter or the camps. Bob Bennett, the commission’s executive director, quickly followed up that there had been “concerns for various officials” that “were discussed and resolved.”
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