David Benavidez will fight before the same referee for the third straight time.

Thomas Taylor, one of the most respected ring officials in the world, will serve as third man for Benavidez’s scheduled grudge match with David Morrell. Their scheduled twelve-round light heavyweight bout will air live this Saturday on Prime Video Pay-Per-View and PPV.com from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Tim Cheatham (Nevada), Steve Weisfeld (New Jersey) and Patricia Morse Jarman (Nevada) were assigned as the three ringside judges. All four officials were unanimously approved during the Nevada State Athletic Commission monthly agenda hearing on Tuesday at its Las Vegas headquarters.

Benavidez (29-0, 25 KOs) is The Ring’s No. 2 light heavyweight contender and holds the interim WBC title at this weight. Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) is ranked No. 8 and is the WBA ‘Regular’ light heavyweight titlist.

The winner will be named the mandatory challenger for whomever prevails in the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol Feb. 22 rematch for The Ring and undisputed 175-pound championship.

California’s Taylor was the referee for Benavidez’s twelve-round, unanimous decision win over former WBC light heavyweight titlist Oleksandr Gvozdyk last June 15 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. It came seven months after Taylor was assigned to Benavidez’s Nov. 2023 sixth-round stoppage of Demetrius Andrade at Michelob ULTRA Arena.

Saturday will mark the first Morrell fight officiated by Taylor and Weisfeld both. There is only slightly more familiarity for the unbeaten Cuban with two of the three judges.

Judge Morse Jarman was among the three-person panel who awarded a unanimous decision in favor of Morrell over Radivoje Kalajdzic last Aug. 3 in Los Angeles. Zachary Young (117-111), Jesse Reyes (118-110) and Morse Jarman (117-111) all scored for Morrell in the WBA ‘Regular’ title fight on Riyadh Season’s U.S. launch show.

Prior to that, Morse Jarman didn’t even have to fill out a scorecard for Morrell’s April 2023 first-round knockout of Yamaguchi Falcao at this very venue.

Judge Cheatham only worked one other fight involving Morrell, a Dec. 2021 fourth-round knockout of Alantez Fox. Conversely, Saturday will mark the fifth time overall he will work a fight involving Benavidez, including four of the last five for the Phoenix-bred boxer.

Benavidez’s wins over Andrade, Caleb Plant and David Lemieux all included Cheatham as an assigned official. The March 2023 clash with Plant was the only of the three to go to the scorecards. Cheatham (115-113) had the closest score of a crew that included Weisfeld (117-111) and Dave Morreti (116-112) at MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Cheatham and Weisfeld were also among the judges who worked Benavidez-Andrade.

Tuesday’s meeting also confirmed the officiating crew for the Brandon Figueroa-Stephen Fulton rematch, which serves as the evening’s co-feature.

Harvey Dock (New York) was appointed referee, while Max DeLuca, David Sutherland and Zachary Young are the three official judges for the WBC featherweight title fight.

Fulton (22-1, 8 KOs) defeated Figueroa (25-1-1, 19 KOs) via majority decision in their terrific Nov. 2021 WBC/WBO junior featherweight unification bout at MGM Park Theater in Las Vegas. Judge Sutherland (114-114) was the lone official among this Saturday’s crew who worked the first fight, and awarded six rounds apiece to Fulton and Figueroa.