World Boxing Hall of Fame member Robert Byrd has been appointed as the referee for Floyd Mayweather’s boxing match against Conor McGregor, which will take place on August 26 at the T-Mobile Arena.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission met on Wednesday morning to announce that Byrd would referee the contest, as well as approving a joint request from both Mayweather and McGregor for the contest to take place with 8oz rather than 10oz gloves.
It was also announced that the judges would be Burt Clements and Dave Moretti, both from the United States of America, as well as Guido Cavalleri, from Italy.
Byrd is one of the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s most experienced referees and is generally well regarded by boxing fans.
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He is known for keeping a reasonable distance away from the fight and for not meddling too much – news which will surely delight McGregor who has been repeatedly advised to ‘rough up’ Mayweather in the ring.
Byrd, who is based in Las Vegas, has taken charge of a number of high-profile fights, including Sergey Kovalev’s light heavyweight title fight against Andre Ward, and Canelo Alvarez’s fight against Miguel Cotto.
He was meant to take charge of Manny Pacquiao’s fight against Timothy Bradley, too, but withdrew because of an undisclosed< medical condition.
