By Keith Idec

Abel Sanchez would’ve welcomed Kenny Bayless as the referee for the Gennady Golovkin-Canelo Alvarez rematch.

Sanchez, Golovkin’s veteran trainer, respects the job Bayless did in their first fight and thought he would’ve been assigned to the rematch. Once Sanchez learned Bayless is unavailable September 15 due to an unspecified personal commitment, Sanchez objected to the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s suggestion to instead assign Tony Weeks as the referee for the rematch.

Tom Loeffler, Golovkin’s promoter, voiced those concerns during the NSAC’s monthly meeting Wednesday in Las Vegas. NSAC executive director Bob Bennett and chairman Anthony A. Marnell III strongly supported Weeks, but Team Golovkin’s objection eventually led to the NSAC approving New Jersey’s Benjy Esteves Jr. as the referee for the Alvarez-Golovkin rematch at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Sanchez explained his opposition to Weeks during a conference call later Wednesday.

“First of all, we had been told it was gonna be Kenny Bayless,” Sanchez said. “And we had agreed to Kenny Bayless doing it again. When the name Tony Weeks came up, I had several other fighters with him and I felt he didn’t do a proper job. I felt that in one of the fights, in the dressing room, when he was giving the instructions, how he addressed the question of mine was very irresponsible and insulting. So I felt I had a problem with that, and there’s a lot of other great referees in the world. And I felt he wasn’t qualified, in my opinion, to do this kind of fight.”

The fight to which Sanchez referred involved Denis Shafikov, another boxer Sanchez trains.

Russia’s Shafikov lost that 10-round bout to Rene Alvarado by split decision December 9 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Loeffler mentioned during Wednesday’s meeting that Weeks counted a fifth-round knockdown for Alvarado that night when a replay showed Shafikov tripped over Alvarado’s foot.

Earlier last year, Weeks was widely criticized for how he handled the conclusion of the Andre Ward-Sergey Kovalev light heavyweight championship rematch. Weeks, who’s generally regarded as a reputable referee, stopped that bout in the eighth round right after Ward appeared to land multiple punches below Kovalev’s belt line.

Loeffler emphasized Wednesday that he has nothing personal against Weeks. Golovkin’s promoter merely attempted to avoid the potential for controversy in the Golovkin-Alvarez rematch because the judging of their first fight drew an enormous amount of negative attention to the sport.

Eric Gomez, president of Golden Boy Promotions, said during the meeting that Alvarez’s team had “no issue whatsoever” with Weeks working the Alvarez-Golovkin rematch. Gomez conceded, however, that he understood Loeffler’s reservations about assigning Weeks to the fight.

Loeffler and Gomez agreed to allow another veteran Nevada referee, Robert Byrd, officiate the rematch.

Bennett and Marnell ultimately determined that assigning Byrd to the rematch would’ve been unfair to him and would’ve invited criticism because heavily scrutinized judge Adalaide Byrd is his wife. Adalaide Byrd scored the first Alvarez-Golovkin fight 118-110 for Alvarez, whom she credited for winning 10 of 12 rounds in what was a much more competitive fight than that.

The NSAC also approved Connecticut’s Glenn Feldman, Nevada’s Dave Moretti and New Jersey’s Steve Weisfeld on Wednesday as the judges for the Alvarez-Golovkin rematch. Moretti, who scored their first fight 115-113 for Golovkin, is the only judge assigned to the rematch who also worked their initial battle, which resulted in a controversial draw 11 months ago at T-Mobile Arena.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.