Kenny Bayless selected as referee for Mayweather-Maidana 2 rematch

By T.Baker - 08/22/2014 - Comments

On Thursday, the Nevada State Athletic Commission has selected Kenny Bayless as the referee for the Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Marcos Maidana rematch on September 13th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The previous referee that worked the Mayweather-Maidana I fight was Tony Weeks, who Mayweather was unhappy with because he failed to control the fouling that Maidana did throughout their 12 round bout. Mayweather felt that Weeks had an off night.

The Commission also appointed the following judges for the fight: Dave Moretti, Guido Cavalleri and John McKaie. Hopefully, the judges will score the fight well and not come up with some wild scores like we’ve seen recently with other judges.

Bayless recently worked Mayweather’s fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez last September in Las Vegas. Canelo fought a clean fight so there was no reason for Bayless to get involved. The big question is will Bayless do his job to keep Maidana in line in terms of the fouling he sometimes does in his fights, or will Bayless take a hands off approach to the fight and fail to warn about fouls or take points away.

In addition to the Mayweather-Canelo fight, Bayless also worked the Mayweather vs. Shane Mosley bout and the Mayweather vs. Oscar De La Hoya fight. Bayless doesn’t put himself as the center of attraction in the fights he works by disqualifying fighters needlessly or taking points away for petty reasons without giving a warning like we’ve seen recently.

There’s a good chance that Bayless is going to need to step in and try and restore order on September 13th when Mayweather and Maidana face each other at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight will very likely be a rough one, and unless Bayless is on his job, we could see anarchy in the ring.