Bayless, not Cortez, named ref

Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez should both be satisfied that Kenny Bayless is going to be the third man on the ring during their March 15 contest in Las Vegas.
Bayless, for one, is a top-notch referee often described as a “decent” one. He had worked 363 fights over the last 15 years, and has refereed 43 world title fights.
Bayless, of Nevada, was the same referee who counted out Erik Morales in the 10th round of a 2006 match with Pacquiao, their second of three fights, in Las Vegas.
Bayless said he doesn’t find any problem working a Pacquiao fight because he always knew that the Filipino, despite his very aggressive style, is a “clean fighter.”
Marquez said more than a month ago that he preferred anybody but Joe Cortez for his WBC super-featherweight title defense against Pacquiao.
The Mexican champ said he didn’t like the way Cortez, one of the finest in the business, worked a few of his fights, including the one against Pacquiao in 2004.
Marquez said he’d file a protest if Cortez would be named the referee for this coming fight.
The Pacquiao camp, particularly trainer Freddie Roach, feels the same way, too, claiming that Cortez erred during the first Pacquiao-Morales fight, when he called a head-butt a Morales punch.
It will only be the second time Bayless, who refereed the Mayweather-De la Hoya bout in 2007, Mosley-Vargas in 2006 and Hopkins-De la Hoya in 2004, will work a Pacquiao fight.
He was in Manila for the WBC Convention last November.
Bayless, a protégé of the famous Richard Steele, has also worked a Marquez fight just once. It was in 1999 when the Mexican faced Argentina’s Remigio Daniel Molina.
Marquez won that one, a featherweight bout held at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, when he stopped Molina in the eighth round of a scheduled 10-rounder.
Both Pacquiao and Marquez should be hoping for a similar result with Bayless around.
Also named by the Nevada State Athletic Commission to work the awaited rematch at Mandalay Bay were judges Jerry Roth, Duane Ford and Dick Flaherty.
Roth has penned three Pacquiao fights – against Lehlo Ledwaba in 2001, Morales in 2006 and Marco Antonio Barrera last October; Ford only once, the third Morales fight; and Flaherty never.