The highly-anticipated Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao mega-bout on May 2 needs a referee who can demand respect and maintain order at all times.
The Nevada Athletic Commission is counting on Kenny Bayless to be that man, appointing the veteran to referee the prize fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena two Saturdays from now.
Although this is easily the biggest bout that Bayless will ever ref, he's been around the ring and is no stranger to Mayweather or Pacquiao. Bayless served as referee during Mayweather's victories over Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley, Canelo Alvarez, and most recently, Floyd's rematch win over Marcos Maidana last September.
He also reffed Pacquiao's rematch victory over Timothy Bradley, wins over Mosely and Miguel Cotto and Pacman's third and fourth bouts against Juan Manuel Marquez — the latter being that brual knockout that Pacquiao suffered.
In total, May 2nd will mark the eighth time that Bayless refs a Pacquiao fight and sixth time he calls the shots for a Mayweather bout.
Aside from Mayweather and Pacquiao, Bayless also served as referee for the Bernard Hopkins vs. De La Hoya fight back in 2004. Altogether, Bayless counts over 30 years of experience around the sweet science.
Already, there are critics of Tuesday's decision by the Nevada Athletic Commission to have Bayless ref the super fight that the world is waiting for.
I'm not questioning anyone's integrity, I'm just wondering how many of these t-shirts Kenny Bayless has in his closet pic.twitter.com/TkHrkL4Xlr
— Jonathan Snowden (@mmaencyclopedia) April 21, 2015
"Don't worry @FloydMayweather, I got you!"-Kenny Bayless #MayPac pic.twitter.com/mvN9GXj4i2 — Little Mac (@mrbagby314) April 21, 2015
Here's an extra in-depth look at Bayless, who will reportedly make $25,000 calling the shots May 2.
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