Four highly regarded officials have been selected for the stateside return of one of the sport’s very best fighters. 

Thomas Taylor of California was selected as the referee for the fight between Naoya Inoue and Ramon Cardenas for the undisputed junior-featherweight championship, which airs live on ESPN on Sunday from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The three judges assigned to the bout will be Max DeLuca, also of California, David Sutherland of Oklahoma, and Steve Weisfeld of New Jersey. 

The final officiating panel was proposed and unanimously approved on Wednesday during the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s monthly agenda. Taylor will earn $4,000 for the premium in-ring assignment; judges DeLuca, Sutherland and Weisfeld will earn $3,000 each. It will mark the first time that either Taylor or Weisfeld will officiate a bout involving either boxer. 

DeLuca was among the judges’ panel for Inoue’s first fight in Vegas – a seventh-round stoppage of Jason Moloney in October 2020. DeLuca had Inoue ahead 59-55 at that point.  

Sutherland is the only official to have worked at least one bout for each boxer. He was a ringside judge for two Inoue fights, both in Tokyo and which ended in knockouts. He awarded a 10-8 opening round to Inoue prior to his second-round knockout of Nonito Donaire in their rematch in June 2022. Sutherland also had Inoue ahead 59-55 at the time of his seventh-round stoppage of TJ Doheny in September in Tokyo. 

Cardenas, 26-1 (14 KOs), actually went the distance in the one bout where Sutherland was a judge. 

The 29 year old won a 10-round unanimous decision over Michell Banquez on a card in July 2022 in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas. Sutherland’s card of 97-93 matched that of Jesse Reyes; Ursolo Perez had it 96-94 for Cardenas, who enters his first major title fight. 

Inoue, 29-0 (26 KOs) has not fought in the US since his third-round knockout of Michael Dasmarinas in June 2021. Sunday will mark his fourth overall US appearance as he puts his lineal and undisputed junior-featherweight championship on the line for the fourth time. He fully unified the division with knockout wins over Stephen Fulton Jnr and Marlon Tapales in 2023.

In the evening’s co-feature, Rafael Espinoza, 26-0 (22 KOs), risks his WBO featherweight title for the third time as he faces first-time title challenger Edward Vazquez, 17-2 (4 KOs). 

New York’s Harvey Dock was selected as the referee for the scheduled 12-round title fight and will earn $2,400 for the assignment. The three judges will be Tim Cheatham, Eric Cheek and Patricia Morse-Jarman, all from Nevada and each of whom will earn $1,800. 

Cheek and Morse-Jarman will both work their first fight involving either boxer. Dock has never worked a fight involving Espinoza. He was the third man in the ring for Vazquez’s fourth-round stoppage of Kenneth Taylor in October in New York City. 

Espinoza will have Cheatham as one of the judges for the third successive time. His previous two outings both ended in a knockout to defend his WBO featherweight title. 

The 6’0” Mexican brutalized Sergio Chirino via fourth-round knockout in June and had won every round on the cards.

Cheatham was one of two judges who had Espinoza trailing 48-47 at the time of his sixth-round stoppage of Oscar Valdez in December in Phoenix, Arizona. 

None of the three judges were previously assigned to a bout involving Vazquez, who enters his first career title fight.

Jake Donovan is an award-winning journalist who served as a senior writer for BoxingScene from 2007-2024, and news editor for the final nine years of his first tour. He was also the lead writer for The Ring before his decision to return home. Follow Jake on X and Instagram.