One major apprehension that Conor McGregor’s camp holds for the upcoming Floyd Mayweather fight is about the officiating. Head coach John Kavanagh has been vocal about his dislike for veteran boxing referee Kenny Bayless, and has suggested that MMA official Marc Goddard should be the third man in the ring on fight night.
From their end, the Nevada Athletic Commission gave their assurance that the August 26th fight will be officiated fairly. Executive director Bob Bennett himself gave his word in a recent interview with MMAjunkie.
“There’s no prejudice. There’s no bias. They agreed to box, and they’ll fight like any other boxing match,” Bennett said. “As long as you follow the rules, then your chances are predicated on your actions in the ring.”
“We’re in the middle. We’re here strictly to regulate the event,” he continued. “That’s what we do for every fight. Nobody has an edge. There’s no favoritism here. They’re two phenomenal athletes. It should be a very, very interesting event, and we’ll see what happens in the ring.”
The NSAC will be presenting their referee candidates at their July 31st meeting, in which Bennett will also be giving his own recommendations as well as the concerns that will be raised by both camps. The same list will also be sent to the UFC.
According to Bennett, any concern that will be brought up will be evaluated thoroughly. While he did not give out any names of their prospects, he made it clear that whoever will be selected should rightfully be well-versed in boxing rules.
“If you want somebody pulled, you have to let me know why. And it has to prove to be true. And if it is, then I’ll pull them. If it’s not, I won’t,” Bennett said.
“All I would say that the people want to evaluate or judge this fight, they should know the judging criteria for boxing and the unified rules of boxing. It’s not an MMA fight. And Conor has proven he’s quite a boxer or striker, i.e., the Diaz fight at UFC 202.”
Recently, the McGregor camp hired hall-of-fame referee Joe Cortez to help them get better acquainted with the “dos and don’ts” of boxing rules.
Mayweather vs. McGregor is scheduled for 12 rounds at 154-pounds at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.