ANTHONY JOSHUA’S career defining rematch with Andy Ruiz Jr will be officiated by Puerto Rican referee Luis Pabon.
The three judges scoring the bout on Saturday in Saudi Arabia will be Britain’s Steve Gray, Glenn Feldman of America and Canadian Benoit Roussel.
Anthony Joshua rematches Andy Ruiz Jr in Saudi ArabiaCredit: AFP or licensors
Joshua challenges for the unified titles he lost on his US debut in New York last June this Saturday.
The bout will be staged at the brand new Diriyah Arena, and SunSport revealed AJ and the champion both looked over the proposed officials before a decision was made.
But who are they?
Luis Pabon
The man in the middle will be South American Pabon, who BoxRec report has refereed 488 bouts and only judged 50.
He was the ref for Anthony Yarde’s brave WBO light-heavyweight title challenge against Sergey Kovalev in Russia last August.
Despite narrowly avoiding a stoppage in the tenth, Pabon allowed Yarde to continue in the 11th but immediately waved the fight after the Brit went down, rightfully not initiating a count.
Significantly it will not be Pabon’s first time in a Middle Eastern ring, having took charge of the first fight in Saudi between George Groves and Callum Smith in 2018.
It will be his first fight in charge of either Joshua or Ruiz.
Pabon took charge of the first fight in Saudi between George Groves and Callum Smith in 2018Credit: Reuters
Steve Gray
England’s Gray is a recognisable name on the British boxing scene having refereed 1,050 bouts.
However, his career as a judge is not as storied, despite giving the verdict on 335 fights.
Gray was one of the three judges who unanimously scored in favour of Joshua the night he claimed the WBO title off Joseph Parker – the only man to beat Ruiz.
It is the only AJ bout he has judged, despite refereeing the Londoner’s wins against Alexander Povetkin, Eric Molina, Konstantin Airich.
British ref Steve Gray will judge his first ever Joshua fightCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Glenn Feldman
American judge Feldman, unlike most British officials, has never refereed a bout.
Instead his background is in sports writing, before becoming a judge in 1988.
Feldman has judged 1,065 bouts and was working Manchester in 2016 when Joshua beat Molina.
Amazingly the Connecticut official has never judged a Ruiz fight.
In his spare time he is a financial advisor for investment management company Merrill Lynch.
Benoit Roussel
Canada’s Roussel is also only a judge.
He has worked on 689 bouts and was in England in October and was the only to score Josh Taylor majority points win over Regis Prograis a draw.
Roussel will be working on his first Joshua fight.
He is also yet to judge Ruiz.
Roussel acts as the neutral judge on Saturday night.
Anthony Joshua says he hasn’t focused on his weight but on his boxing as he looks forward to Andy Ruiz Jr fight
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
