NEW YORK – Neutral officials are among the things Andy Ruiz Jr. has been guaranteed for his rematch against Anthony Joshua.
Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, informed a group of reporters Thursday that the sanctioning bodies involved in their IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight championship rematch will be responsible for choosing a balanced panel of judges. The referee – who, contractually, cannot hail from the United Kingdom or the United States – will be assigned by the Saudi Arabia Boxing Commission.
Ruiz and Joshua also will be able to choose one commissioner apiece from the U.S. and the UK, respectively, to assist the inexperienced Saudi Arabia Boxing Commission in regulating their December 7 bout in Diriyah.
“We have an agreement with Andy Ruiz that we will have representation from both sides on the commission,” Hearn said before a press conference in Manhattan. “So, they will have their selected commissioner from here, from the U.S., and we will have one from the UK. We met with the commission yesterday, who have staged events before.
“Again, all the eyes of the world is on them. So, they wanna make sure everything is absolutely perfect. So, at our request and at Team Ruiz’s request, we will have local commissions that actually sit on that [Saudi Arabia] commission, to advise and make sure both parties are happy with everything.”
Neutral officials also were assigned to the first fight between Ruiz (33-1, 22 KOs), of Imperial, California, and Joshua (22-1, 21 KOs), of Watford, England.
Canada’s Michael Griffin was the referee for their June 1 bout at Madison Square Garden, where Ruiz scored one of the biggest upsets in boxing history by stopping Joshua in the seventh round. Griffin halted the action at 1:27 of the seventh round because Joshua didn’t respond to his command to move forward from his corner.
Two of the judges – England’s Michael Alexander (57-56) and American Julie Lederman (57-56) – had Ruiz ahead entering the seventh round, in which Ruiz knocked down Joshua twice. The other judge, Canada’s Pasquale Procopio, had Joshua in front, 57-56, through six rounds.
“They will be, as per the first fight, which is as per the governing bodies … neutral officials all around,” Hearn said. “So, we will make sure it will be a British judge, an American judge and a neutral judge. Or all neutral [judges] and a neutral ref as well. So, no British ref, no American. The referee is 100-percent neither British or American. But we will make sure, as always, that the governing bodies will put forward all of their officials. It will be selected and whittled down by the commissioners, to come back to the camps and say, ‘This is the selection. Do you have any objections?’ Those objections will be reviewed, but there will be all neutral officials.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
