By Steve Kim
Back in November as Sergey Kovalev (30-1, 26 KOs) dropped a highly disputed 12-round decision to Andre Ward at T-Mobile Arena, the head of Main Events, Kathy Duva, didn't hide her displeasure with the trio of Burt Clements, Glenn Trowbridge and John McKaie (who all scored the fight 114-113 for Ward).
As they meet on June 17th at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, the threesome of Glenn Feldman, Dave Moretti and Steve Weisfeld have been appointed as the arbiters for the rematch.
Ward, who was down earlier in the fight, captured Kovalev's IBF, WBA, WBO light heavyweight world titles with the victory.
When asked if she's happy with the selection of the judges from the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Duva told BoxingScene.com:
"Yeah, I think so. Listen we asked the commission to just give us those judges who don't make mistakes and I'm comfortable with the people that were chosen - and I was last time to tell you the truth. So I can say that the people who judged the last time made a mistake. I think they listened to the crowd, I think they fell into a pattern once Ward won a few rounds."
After dominating the early rounds and scoring a knockdown in the second, Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) swept the late rounds on the cards in the first encounter.
"They just started falling into that pattern," stated Duva, who had asked Roc Nation Sports for neutral judges (meaning none from the United States or Russia) but was turned down in that request.
"People do it, it's human nature, when they are trained they are warned against doing that. I think the judges we have this time are less apt to do that based on their past records."
Like the first encounter, the rematch will take place on HBO Pay-Per-View.
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com