LAS VEGAS -- After the controversy over the scoring of the Floyd Mayweather victory against Canelo Alvarez last month, the Nevada Athletic Commission changed the way it vetted its officials and judges for big fights, starting with Saturday's fight between Tim Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez.

PREVIEW: Bradley's Mindset

Promoter Bob Arum said it's hogwash, and the changes are cosmetic, at best.

"Don't listen to these politicians. Most of them tell you what you want to hear," Arum said. "They haven't changed the procedures."

The commission allowed both camps and the promoters to hear who the pool of referees and judges will be and allow them to voice any concerns. Cameron Dunkin, the manager for Bradley, said the camps can talk about the judges and referees anonymously rather than at a commission meeting, allowing everyone to speak freely.

However, the pool of judges and referees are mainly from Nevada. Arum wants a pool from Nevada and beyond.

"You don't change the procedure when you have a small group of officials that you rotate," Arum said. "So you ask the promoter who do you object to, that's BS. You should attempt to get the best officials. Why should there be two Nevada officials like in the upcoming fight?

"Are they good officials? Yeah, they're OK. Are there better officials? You're damn right."

The referee for the fight is Robert Byrd from Nevada, who many consider one of the best in the world. The three judges for the main event are Robert Hoyle and Patricia Morse Jarman of Nevada and Glenn Feldman of Connecticut.

Dunkin disagreed with Arum about the need to use judges outside of Nevada and California. He feels there's a large enough pool of experienced judges and officials who have done championship fights.

"Bob wants to bring judges from all over the world, like Thailand. Why?" Dunkin said. "For a fight like this, there's no reason for it. I'm satisfied with it. California, they have excellent judges, Nevada, they have excellent judges, you know, places like that where you fight. They have such a big pool of judges who do so many title fights, you don't have to worry about it. We're fine with it. We're very happy with the judges, no matter what happens."

C.J. Ross ignited the controversy when she scored a draw in the Mayweather-Alvarez fight last month. Many had Mayweather dominating by a wide margin, too wide to even consider it close.

Ross was also one of the two judges that had Bradley beating Manny Pacquiao in another fight that drew a huge uproar. Many journalists and fans believed Pacquiao dominated the bout.

With the controversy swirling around the Mayweather bout, Ross stepped down.

Bradley has adamantly defended Ross, pointing out that judges have a different vantage point from fans and media. And Bradley added he saw some close rounds where he could understand how Ross might have scored those for Alvarez.

"Did I think it was a draw? I didn't think it was a draw, but that was her perception. That was her judgment," Bradley said. "If C.J. Ross is an honest person, if she's honest and honest with herself and didn't do anything illegal, then there's no point in her quitting."

Arum brought up his issues with how Nevada appoints judges after the Bradley-Pacquiao bout, feeling the Nevada pool is aging and becoming less effective.

"To do a job right when you're a judge, you have to concentrate three minutes for each round. That's tough even for a young person," Arum said. "For an older person, it is impossible, impossible. I couldn't do that. You mind wanders; you think about this, you think about that. To concentrate the whole time and to remember what happened at the beginning of the round and not just the end of the round. It's a tough, tough job."

Arum said the problem is compounded by the fact there isn't much turnover in the pool. .

"It's like the teacher's union. They don't want to fire a bad teacher because she's a union member, so she continues to so-call educate kids. Same thing," Arum said. "They'll continue to stick up for their judges because they're part of that group. Nobody sees that a judge is slipping, which you do when you get older. Nobody sees that. Or if they see it, they look the other way.

"It's hard to say to a buddy and a great guy, 'Hey man, maybe you shouldn't judge anymore.' It's tough to do that."

In 2011, Marquez felt he won against Pacquiao, but felt the judges robbed him. Marquez was so upset that he contemplated retiring.


But Marquez wonders if what happened to him influenced the Bradley-Pacquiao result.

"I think because of what happened to me, Bradley got the decision over Pacquiao," Marquez said. "They were maybe trying to even the field after what happened with me. But that doesn't take from the great fight that it was. I think Bradley is a good fighter, he did his part and he tried to win the fight."

This will be Bradley's first fight in Vegas since the Pacquiao fight. Trainer Joel Diaz was asked if he was worried that Bradley could face a similar backlash.

"There is always a concern," Diaz said. "This is boxing and at the end of the day what's going to happen is what's going to happen. Tim is a very elusive fighter and has great speed and great footwork. If it's up to the judges, we hope they do their job and Tim is going to prove he is one of the best fighters in the world when he beats Márquez."

However, Bradley doesn't share Diaz's concern.


Ginn also writes for The (Palm Springs) Desert Sun