By Keith Idec

If his rematch with Canelo Alvarez goes to the scorecards, Gennady Golovkin and his handlers are confident that the scoring will better reflect what happens in the ring than the scorecards submitted after their first fight.

Tom Loeffler, Golovkin’s promoter, assured reporters and fans that Golovkin’s team is satisfied with the three judges and the referee the Nevada State Athletic Commission has assigned to their rematch.

Only one judge that worked their first fight, Nevada’s Dave Moretti, will return to score their rematch. Moretti scored Golovkin a 115-113 victor over Alvarez last September 16 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Moretti was the only judge who scored that 12-round, 160-pound title bout for Golovkin.

Judge Adalaide Byrd infamously scored their fight 118-110 for Alvarez, whom she credited with winning 10 of the 12 rounds. The third judge, Don Trella, scored the action even (114-114) and their first fight resulted in a controversial draw.

Neither Byrd nor Trella has been assigned to the rematch. Connecticut’s Glenn Feldman and New Jersey’s Steve Weisfeld will join Moretti at ringside September 15 at T-Mobile Arena. 

“There’s no issues from the Triple-G side with the judges,” Loeffler said Sunday before Golovkin and Alvarez participated in open workouts in Los Angeles. “Dave Moretti, from Nevada, Steve Weisfeld and Glenn Feldman. They seem qualified to be the judges. And the referee is Benjy Esteves. There’s no controversy from our side. The main thing with the officials is we want to make sure the focus is on the fight and the fighters in the ring, not on the officials outside the ring.”

Bob Bennett, the NSAC’s executive director, wanted to assign Nevada’s Tony Weeks as the referee for the Golovkin-Alvarez rematch. Loeffler objected during the NSAC’s meeting Wednesday, which prompted the commission to approve New Jersey’s Esteves as the referee.

Loeffler and Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez agreed to allow another veteran Nevada referee, Robert Byrd, officiate the rematch. Bennett and NSAC chairman Anthony A. Marnell III ruled, though, that assigning Byrd to the rematch would be unfair to him and would invite criticism because the heavily scrutinized Adalaide Byrd is his wife.

“Unfortunately, [referee] Kenny Bayless wasn’t available,” Loeffler said. “We thought he did a fine job the first time around. He wasn’t available for the rematch. … The Golden Boy side and the Triple-G side were both fine with Benjy Esteves and the commission agreed to appoint him as the referee.”

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