Thomas Taylor has been tasked with perhaps the most significant officiating assignment of the year.
The veteran referee will be the third man in the ring when Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Terence “Bud” Crawford battle for Alvarez’s undisputed super middleweight title on the Sept. 13 Netflix-streamed show at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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While Taylor will be the man tasked with keeping the contest clean and fair inside the ring, the eyes of the boxing world will be on judges Tim Cheatham, Max DeLuca and Steve Weisfeld if the final bell is rung.
All four officials were officially approved by the Nevada Athletic Commission on Thursday.
Taylor is one of the top referees in the sport and is no stranger to high-profile assignments. In 2025 alone, he’s already been tasked with officiating Manny Pacquiao vs. Mario Barrios, Naoya Inoue vs. Ramon Cardenas and David Benavidez vs. David Morrell, among a host of other top matchups.
DeLuca, Cheatham and Weisfeld are three of the most experienced and competent judges in all of boxing and are a common feature in major fights that take place in the state of Nevada.
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Alvarez has gone the distance in his past seven fights, while Crawford has never scored an inside-the-distance win over the 147-pound welterweight limit — albeit having only fought once above the welterweight division. Crawford’s bout with “Canelo,” which BetMGM bookmakers favor to go the 12-round distance, will be contested at the heavier 168-pound super middleweight maximum.
The judging in Alvarez’s fights has been a topic of controversy on more than one occasion. The Mexican superstar has had luck on his side — to say the least — in close fights, including the first two Gennadiy Golovkin bouts in 2017 and 2018 and his 2014 contest against Erislandy Lara.
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Furthermore, Cheatham and Weisfeld both judged Alvarez’s 2022 challenge of then-WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol. Both handed in 115-113 scorecards in favor of Bivol — cards that awarded Alvarez more rounds than the vast majority of experts and viewers gave him that night.
DeLuca was one of very few observers to award Barrios the victory over the legendary Pacquiao this past month in Las Vegas. Cheatham and Weisfeld scored the bout a draw, with the official decision being a majority draw, which was subject to much controversy, as the overwhelming bulk of viewers believed that Pacquiao had done enough to capture the WBC welterweight crown.
Pair of cards planned for Canelo vs. Crawford fight week
In other Canelo vs. Crawford news, TKO Boxing — the new promotional company spearheaded by Saudi Arabian financier Turki Alalshikh, UFC CEO Dana White and WWE President Nick Khan — is planning back-to-back fight cards for the Alvarez vs. Crawford fight week.
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TBC Fights LLC, which was listed as a promoter for the Alalshikh-funded Crawford vs. Israil Madrimov event and midweek card, has holds at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas on Wednesday, Sept. 10, and Thursday, Sept. 11, for fight cards to be televised on DAZN.
A heavyweight bout between Jarrell Miller and Michael Hunter was supposed to feature on the Sept. 11 show, however the fight is now off due to multiple issues. One of those obstacles was a cease-and-desist order that was sent to TKO and SELA by legendary promoter Don King, who insisted he had a legally binding contract with Hunter and had not approved the bout. King instead announced that Hunter would challenge for Kubrat Pulev’s WBA (Regular) title on Oct. 4.