by David P. Greisman
For the third straight time, the third man in the ring for a Floyd Mayweather fight will be Kenny Bayless.
Bayless was unanimously selected to referee the Sept. 12 fight between Mayweather and Andre Berto, which will take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The veteran referee was chosen at the Aug. 27 meeting of the Nevada Athletic Commission.
Bayless has been the referee in six of Mayweather’s prior fights, according to BoxRec.com. He worked Mayweather’s pro debut win over Roberto Apodaca in 1996. He also refereed Mayweather’s wins over Oscar De La Hoya in 2007, Shane Mosley in 2010, Canelo Alvarez in 2013, Marcos Maidana in their rematch 2014, and Manny Pacquiao earlier this year.
Bayless has worked one of Berto’s fights: his win over Taronze Washington back in 2005, very early in his career.
The judges selected for the bout were Adalaide Byrd, Dave Moretti and Steve Weisfeld.
Byrd has judged two of Mayweather’s fights — his wide decision over Mosley in 2010 and his knockout of Victor Ortiz in 2011. She has not worked any of Berto’s fights.
Moretti has judged 10 of Mayweather’s fights. This will be his fifth in a row. Previously, he worked Mayweather’s drubbing of Arturo Gatti in 2005, his decision over Zab Judah in 2006, his stoppage of Ricky Hatton in 2007, decisions over Juan Manuel Marquez in 2009 and Mosley in 2010 and his victory over Miguel Cotto in 2012. He was one of two judges seeing Mayweather the winner over Alvarez and in the first Maidana fight, worked the Maidana rematch as well, and had the widest scorecard at 118-110 in Mayweather-Pacquiao.
Moretti has not worked any of Berto’s fights.
Weisfeld is not listed as having worked any of Mayweather’s fights. He judged Berto’s third pro fight, a first-round stoppage of Edgar Galvan in 2005.
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