Meet Referee Assigned To Fury-Wilder III

With their highly anticipated third fight now two weeks away, the Nevada Athletic Commission and the World Boxing Council have all agreed on the referee and the three judges for the Tyson Fury – Deontay Wilder WBC Heavyweight Title fight.

At their regular Wednesday meeting the NSAC revealed that veteran Mike Ortega will be the third man in the ring for the scheduled 12-rounder

Wilder vs. Fury officials

Referee: Mike Ortega ($10,000 pay)
Judges: Tim Cheatham, Dave Moretti, Patricia Morse Jarman ($8,000)

— Marc Raimondi (@marc_raimondi) July 7, 2021

The Connecticut native has a bunch of world championship experience, including most recently having worked the Mikaela Mayer- Erica Farias WBO Women’s Junior Lightweight title fight on June 19th at the Virgin Hotel in Las Vegas. Mayer won (photo top) by 10 round decision.

Ortega previously worked the Luis Nery-Aaron Alameda World Super Bantamweight title fight in the PBC/ Showtime “bubble” at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut last September. Nery won that bout by decision.

Ortega does have experience with a previous Heavyweight Championship fight having been the third man in the ring for Joseph Parker’s WBO World title win in New Zealand over Razvan Cojanu in May of 2017.

Ortega has never worked either a Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury professional fight. He has been a professional referee since 1995 and is in the Connecticut Boxing Hall of Fame.

Ortega joins Las Vegas referee Kenny Bayless, who worked the previous Fury-Wilder fight won by the “Gypsy King” 7th round TKO in February of 2020 and California’s Jack Reese, who worked their first bout in December of 2018 that resulted in a draw.

The Nevada commission also assigned the three judges for WBC title fight. They are: Tim Cheatham, Dave Moretti, Patricia Morse Jarman.

Cheatham and Moretti are championship veterans, including having recently worked the Josh Taylor-Jose Ramirez Undisputed Jr. Welterweight Title bout in May. They both scored the fight for the Scotsman Taylor. Moretti was also one of the three judges in Fury-Wilder II last year.

Morse Jarman also has world title experience having worked the Joshua Franco-Andrew Moloney Super Flyweight world championship bout in June of 2020.  She scored the fight for Franco in his unanimous decision win.