Bayless and Moretti were two of the four key officials assigned Thursday to the Sept. 12 Mayweather-Andre Berto welterweight title bout at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
So were Steve Weisfeld of New York, one of the sport’s best-known judges to never work a Mayweather title fight, and Nevada’s Adelaide Byrd.
Bayless will serve as referee in a Mayweather bout for the seventh time, and the sixth time since 2007, when he worked the Oscar De La Hoya fight.
Mayweather has competed in the three richest fights in history — decision victories over Manny Pacquiao this year, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in 2013, and De La Hoya — with Bayless as referee each time.
Moretti will judge his fifth consecutive Mayweather bout, and 11th of the Grand Rapids native’s last 16, since he was shipped in by New Jersey to work the 2005 Arturo Gatti fight in Atlantic City.
Byrd worked two Mayweather title fights, his 2011 fourth-round technical knockout of Victor Ortiz and 2010 unanimous decision over Shane Mosley. She scored the latter fight 119-109, same as Moretti.
Bayless will earn $10,000. Byrd, Moretti and Weisfeld will make $8,000.
Six referees and 18 judges were offered for consideration by Nevada Athletic Commission executive director Bob Bennett, whose recommendations of the four assigned officials were approved unanimously by the commissioners.
Many had worked Mayweather bouts previously, though it would be difficult to assemble a list of top-flight officials without dipping into those with prior experience on his fights.
Of the six referees offered for consideration, all from Nevada, only Russell Mora never has worked a Mayweather fight.
Nine of the 18 proposed judges never have worked a Mayweather fight, including Weisfeld, with the other eight split equally between Nevada judges (Tim Cheatham, Eric Cheek, Lisa Giampa, Ricardo Ocasio) and out-of-staters (Don Charles, Connecticut; Max DeLuca and Steve Morrow, California; Jesse Reyes, Texas).
The assigned officials have far less experience with Berto: referee Bayless and judge Weisfeld each worked one of the fighter’s early-career bouts, both in 2005, neither of which lasted a round.
Courtesy of David Mayo of mlive.com. Follow David on Twitter @David_Mayo