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Why is Nevada so supportive of Robert and Adalaide Byrd?

LAS VEGAS – Between them, boxing referee Robert Byrd and his wife, judge Adalaide Byrd, have worked more than 1,200 fights, and to the surprise of some in the industry, they’ll be back at it Saturday night at MGM Grand on the same card.

Robert Byrd, a month removed from the World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight semifinal in Latvia between hometown fighter Mairis Briedis and Poland’s Krzysztof Glowacki that went off the rails, has been assigned by the Nevada Athletic Commission to work the first title defense by IBF super-middleweight champion Caleb Plant versus Mike Lee.

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And Adalaide Byrd, skewered by criticism following her notorious 118-110 (10 rounds to two) scorecard of the highly competitive first Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin fight that ended in a draw two years ago, will work the bout immediately preceding Plant-Lee when unbeaten heavyweights Efe Ajagba and Ali Eren Demirezen square off.

Fellow commissioners are resistant to publicly criticize their peers, but two reached by The Athletic said the immediate re-assignment of Byrd in a world-championship bout by Nevada’s Executive Director Bob Bennett seems flawed.

“It’s too quick. You know it’s too quick. I know it’s too quick,” said one regulator who requested anonymity.

In the June 15 Briedis-Glowacki bout, the pair clinched in the second round and Glowacki delivered an illegal punch to the back of Briedis’ head that Byrd missed. Briedis retaliated by slamming his right elbow to Glowacki’s jaw, prompting Glowacki to lie down on the canvas and Byrd to deduct one point.

Instead of allowing Glowacki a five-minute break, Byrd barked at Glowacki, “Let’s go! Get up!” Briedis charged, scoring a knockdown with an uppercut and a power punch behind the ear.

Replays of the bout inside the raucous arena reveal a strange-sounding, chiming bell ringing to end the second round, with television broadcasters acknowledging it.

“Come on, referee! I can hear it! … What is occurring in there? That bell was ringing for ages,” one announcer fretted.

Byrd, 76, didn’t hear the jingling bell and Briedis took advantage of the extra 10 seconds by knocking down Glowacki again. Glowacki was on wobbly legs as he reached his corner. At that point, Byrd admitted he hadn’t heard the bell. He was empowered by that lapse and Glowacki’s condition to declare the bout a no-contest.

But action resumed and Breidis delivered three powerful right hands on Glowacki to stop the fight 27 seconds into the third round, moving on to meet Cuba’s Yunier Dorticos in the coming WBSS final.

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Glowacki’s promoter protested the outcome, and the World Boxing Organization released a statement admitting a “clear misapplication of the rules of boxing occurred,” installing Glowacki into position to fight the Breidis-Dorticos winner after the Latvia Boxing Federation failed to overturn its countryman’s victory.

Nevada’s Bennett defends his decision to return Byrd to a title fight, noting the former California Highway Patrol officer’s body of work that includes 741 bouts, including the wildly lucrative Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Conor McGregor fight in 2017.

“Robert Byrd will have no problem handling that Plant-Lee fight. I have all the confidence in the world in him,” Bennett said. “He’s a world-class referee who’s traveled the globe and has consistently performed successfully under pressure. He knows the rules, the regulations and is as good — if not better — than any other referee in the business. He puts seminars on around the world, in China, Russia, and does our training for us.

“Maybe he’s lost half a step, but he compensates in the ring with the vast amount of experience he has. He has the uncanny ability to give phenomenal pre-fight instructions so that the fighters know he’s in charge before the fight starts — that’s one of the reasons I gave him Mayweather-McGregor,” when there were so many pre-fight concerns that McGregor would employ MMA tactics on the unbeaten Mayweather.

Bennett declined The Athletic’s request to speak to both Robert and Adalaide Byrd, who reside in Nevada.

Mike Mazzulli, head of the Association of Boxing Commissions, said commission executives are empowered to respond to controversial in-ring incidents or scorecards on a case-by-case basis.

“You’re only as good as your last fight,” Mazzulli said. “Hey, listen, everyone has a bad day, so I usually give them some time off to review the decisions and I provide them with an assignment to a local promotion, just so there’s less stress, so it’s not so high profile, and I know you guys (reporters) aren’t tracking a club show.”

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Robert Byrd has worked four lesser bouts in Nevada since the Latvia episode.

Mazzulli said he believes his practice of employing post-fight discussions with referees and judges and invoking video replay to alter flawed referee decisions can help the process.

As a result of Adalaide Byrd’s bad night in scoring Alvarez-Golovkin I, the California State Athletic Commission has not invited her back to work in the state, and Bennett has stopped short of assigning her a title fight.

It’s a known practice that fight promoters have responded to flawed scorecards by demanding certain judges are prevented from working in those companies’ following cards.

Speaking generally about dealing with lapses by a referee or judge, California commission Executive Officer Andy Foster said, “First, I have to look to make sure the fighters are getting the best I can give them. You have to look at the situation.

“Mistakes by a referee are more definitive than mistakes by a judge for obvious reasons. It’s not subjective when the fight rules are being violated by a referee, either in missing or not calling fouls.”

Bennett stopped short of saying Adalaide Byrd has fully redeemed herself to the status she carried before the Alvarez-Golovkin I assignment. He devoted time to an inspection of her work three years before that infamous scorecard and “it showed she was solid.

“She had a very unfortunate evening. Other commissions are leery of using her because of political ramifications, or they might have issues with promoters. That’s their prerogative. My chairman and I have no problem putting her on a 10-round fight,” Bennett said.

“She’s done a good job, and she’s come back under more scrutiny than any other official I’ve ever seen in my entire life, and I was there at the first Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier fight. I’ve never seen the type of derogatory remarks they’ve made about her for two years. Totally unfair. Did she make a mistake? Yeah. But her body of work has put her in position to do 10-round fights, and I wouldn’t have a problem giving her a championship fight.

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“It would depend on what level of championship fight. Look, the majority of the judges we use would not be used in a Canelo-Gennady fight. Very few are A-plus judges who can handle fights like that, or Kovalev-Ward I, which was a very controversial, tough fight to score. So do I have trust and confidence in her? Sure. Is she capable of doing a championship fight? Definitely.”

WBO President Francisco “Paco” Valcarcel distributed the report critical of Robert Byrd’s ring work last month, but he isn’t protesting the Nevada title-fight assignment.

“That’s the commission’s jurisdiction, and Robert’s one of the best referees — very capable and honest,” Valcarcel said. “I don’t tell anyone to retire. I’m 71, and still working as a lawyer. It’s good for him to keep working. We are human. We make mistakes. You have to make a decision in seconds.

“From outside the ring, it looks easy. Inside the ring, it’s not easy.”

Bennett sat down with Robert Byrd about the Latvia nightmare and said he emerged satisfied with the referee’s explanation.

“What you hear and what’s true are generally not the same. There’s always three sides to a story. Did he have a challenge hearing a bell? Yeah, he didn’t hear the bell. The crowd was so loud, and I’d venture to say they didn’t have a microphone by the clapper, the bell, or whatever they use in Latvia,” Bennett said. “Robert has never had trouble hearing the bell in Nevada and is always in the position he’s supposed to be when the round comes to the end.

“When that clapper goes, he gives a hand signal for 10 seconds. He starts counting down. We do this in training all the time. Right about when he gets to ‘one,’ you will find him right in the middle of the fighters 95 percent of the time, being in the position he’s supposed to be. He’s very cognizant of his position. Is he perfect? No. But is this a good fight for him? Yeah. It’s a super-middleweight fight, 168-pounders. It’s not like he’s got flyweights in there.”

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Although a member of Mike Lee’s team said it was a “red flag worth watching,” the unbeaten Lee himself expressed no reservations with Byrd working his title shot. Plant’s team also has “no issues” with Byrd, a fighter spokesman said.

“Robert Byrd’s performances in the state of Nevada, in high-level, competitive, championship-level fights, speak for itself,” Bennett said. “He has consistently performed well under pressure. My judgment on him is based on what I’ve seen from him here in Las Vegas, and he’s sought across the world for fights and training sessions.

“But this sport … they eat their own. Instead of looking at how the Byrds have been successful in a litany of fights, they pick on one or two they may have dropped the ball on.”

(Top photo: Mark J. Rebilas / USA TODAY Sports)

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