Judges from Las Vegas, New Jersey and Great Britain for Pacquiao-Marquez IV

Faced with the difficult task of lining up officials for a fourth fight between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez, Nevada Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer used the template from their first fight in 2004.

The NAC on Thursday approved Adalaide Byrd of Las Vegas, Steve Weisfeld of New Jersey and John Keane of Great Britain to judge Pacquiao-Marquez IV on Dec. 8 at the MGM Grand Garden. None worked the previous three meetings.

Las Vegas' Kenny Bayless, who worked the 2008 rematch at Mandalay Bay that Pacquiao won by split decision, will be the referee.

"We'll go with the same format as the first fight," Kizer said. That first meeting ended in a 12-round draw and had a Nevada judge in Burt Clements, one out-of-state judge in New Jersey's John Stewart and one foreign judge in Guy Jutras from Canada.

Top Rank president Todd duBoef attended the meeting and said he had no problem with the selections.

"It's a global sport, and the expertise of the officials chosen have impeccable credentials," duBoef said. "In the past, there's been an arrogance of sorts to stay within Nevada when it came to selecting officials for a big fight. But by opening up the evaluation and looking outside the state, it shows they were open to using other qualified judges."

Marquez said previously that he wanted one Mexican and one Filipino judge and no Nevada judges. But with Byrd being the lone Las Vegas judge, neither Marquez nor his representatives contested the decision.

DuBoef said the backlash from Pacquiao's split-decision loss to Timothy Bradley Jr. on June 9, which was judged by three Las Vegans - Duane Ford, Jerry Roth and C.J. Ross - probably helped force the commission's hand to look beyond Nevada.

"I think they were humbled a bit from Manny's last fight," duBoef said. "I give the commission credit for looking outside the state.

"When the NFL looks for officials to work the Super Bowl, they look for the best officials. They don't care where they live. For a fight of this magnitude, you want the best officials you can find, regardless of where they're from."

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.