RSS
Home
Manny Pacquiao v Miguel Cotto: assessing the ring officials
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
The ring officials assigned to Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto on November 14th are Kenny Bayless (referee), Adalaide Bird (judge), Duane Ford (judge), and Dave Moretti (judge). Here is a brief assessment of each:
Kenny Bayless. Bayless has roughly the same experience with both fighters; however, two fights stand out. First, he worked Miguel Cotto v. Antonio Margarito and he was criticized for allowing Miguel to take unnecessary punishment in the 11th round. As you probably remember, Cotto spent most of the round going backwards, he took a knee twice, was not throwing back, and he obviously could not see. Miguel's corner eventually had to throw in the towel to stop the fight.
Bayless was also assigned to Pacquiao-Erik Morales II. An argument could be made that the fight should have been stopped after the first knockdown in the 10th, but it took another one before he stopped the action.
Adalaide Byrd. Byrd has no significant history with regard to Miguel Cotto; however, she had Pacquiao pitching a shutout against Oscar De La Hoya. Byrd ran into some controversy with her 114-113 card for Bernard Hopkins against Joe Calzaghe.
Duane Ford. Ford scored 115-112 in favor of Pacquiao in his last fight against Juan Manuel Marquez, but he has no recent experience with Cotto.
Dave Moretti. Moretti had the fight tied at 95-95 before Cotto's corner stopped the Margarito fight, and he also scored a shutout in favor of Pacquiao before De La Hoya quit on his chair. Moretti, however, had the closest scorecard, 86-85, before Pacquiao knocked Morales out in their second fight and turned in a 115-113 card to help give Morales a unanimous decision against Pacquiao in the first fight. Perhaps more interesting, and somewhat analogous, is that Moretti scored 115-113 in favor of Sugar Ray Leonard over Marvin Hagler.
Conclusion. Kenny Bayless is one of the best third men in the business, and both camps should be very satisfied because he is not going to inject himself into the outcome. Additionally, he will certainly allow both men to fight until it is abundantly clear that the fight is over, which will not likely happen until the bell ends the 12th round. Bayless is the perfect guy for the two warriors.
Moretti and Ford may well be the top two judges working today and they will be laser focused on the scoring zone. Byrd doesn't have a pedigree equal to the other two, but more often than not her scorecards are in line with how the fight is viewed at ringside and at home.
As we close out a year that has been full of scoring controversies, don't expect this fight to be one of them. An all star officiating crew for what will likely be a 2009 Fight of the Year candidate.
Should Bayless have stopped the fight?
Related Articles:
Comments
