With how the last time Manny Pacquiao took on Timothy Bradley ended up in a controversial decision that gave Bradley the WBO tile that will be up for grabs April 12, the judges selected for the bout are important this time around.
On Tuesday the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) chose the three judges that will score the bout and the referee that will control the action next weekend. Judges Glenn Trowbridge of Las Vegas, Nev., Michael Pernick from Florida and Great Britain’s Jon Keane were chosen with no objections from either fighters camps according to Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Longtime referee Kenny Bayless will be in the ring keeping order as he has done in multiple big time bouts, including Pacquiao’s KO loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in December 2012.
All three judges have judge a Pacquiao bout before. The most recent for Pernick was the Pacquiao-Brandon Rios bout late last year. For Trowbrige he last judged a Pacman bout in 2011 when Pacquiao met Marquez for the third time. Keane most recently part of a Pacquiao card was when Pacman was KO’d by Marquez in 2012.
Having both sides satisfied with the officials one could hope that this time around of the bout goes the full 12 rounds that the majority of those watching can agree with the decision, not making that the focal part of the event as opposed the actual fight itself.
