By Cassandra Cousineau
LVSportsBiz.com
The Nevada State Athletic Commission has assigned the three judges for Saturday’s championship boxing match featuring Canelo Alvarez and challenger Daniel Jacobs. The trio of veteran officials will be familiar to Canelo.
It’s the same crew that was ringside for Canelo’s second fight against Gennady Golovkin. Nevada’s Dave Moretti, New Jersey’s Steve Weisfeld and Connecticut’s Glenn Feldman will be deciding the Canelo-Jacobs winner at T-Mobile Arena Saturday.
Moretti and Weisfeld both scored the Alvarez vs Golovkin rematch 115-113 for Alvarez, whereas Feldman scored it a draw (114-114). The fight took place on September 15, 2018, after needing to be rescheduled from May 5, due to an Alvarez failed a drug test for clenbuterol, and subsequent six month suspension imposed by NSAC.
Refereeing the fight will be the venerable Tony Weeks, who was the third man in the ring for Alvarez’s 2010 win over Jose Cotto.
After back-to-back controversial decisions in Vegas, thanks in part to a ridiculous draw for the first Canelo vs Golovkin fight where Adalaide Byrd turned in a 118-110 scorecard in for Canelo, fight fans should keep a close eye on the final judging..
Jacobs was asked if he thought Canelo benefited from scoring advantages in Nevada during the event’s final press conference. “For me, it’s really ultimately up to me to go inside the ring and do my job. And all that I asked for is a fair shake. With everyone talking and bringing up the judges, and things of that nature, I’ve always said and agreed that, yeah, Canelo does sometimes get favoritism in Vegas. But all I ever wanted was just a clean shot, and to face one of the best and prove that I’m the best. And I think that we’ve got that with the panel.”
Alvarez (51-1-2, 35 KO) will defend his WBC and WBA middleweight titles against Jacobs (35-2, 29 KO), who holds the IBF title, which will also be on the line.
Jacobs is trained by New Yorker Andre Rozier who, well, is a candid New Yorker. “There’s no way to prepare for any funny business that might take place with a judge’s pen. The only thing we can do is rise to the occasion, work as hard and as diligently as we can, control the atmosphere in the ring, at that point, the victory should be ours. I’m just gonna look forward to an even and fair match, and I hope politics don’t play a role in this particular bout.”
Deeply bankrolled streaming service DAZN sits at the second fight of Alvarez’s five-year, 11 match deal. Canelo being their $365 million man has to deliver subscribers. The service is a mere $19.99 a month or $100 for an annual subscription. By comparison, typically a Pay Per View of this caliber will run from $64-$85.
Point blank, the judges have very little margin for error on this fight. If it goes the distance, and that very well may be the case, the NSAC needs score cards turned in that are reflective of what actually happened in the ring.
*
Follow LVSportsBiz.com on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.