By Benjamine Ama, The Sight News
Italian referee Giuseppe Quartarone will officiate Anthony Joshua’s unification battle with Joseph Parker on March 31, it has been confirmed.
Joshua and Parker go to war at the end of the month in Cardiff, with the Brit aiming to add the WBO heavyweight strap to his world title collection.
The experienced Quartarone will be the man in the ring with the world champions, and British fans will be familiar with the referee.
Quartarone has previously worked bouts involving Scott Quigg, Martin Murray, Chris Eubank Jr and Kid Galahad. The European’s most recent UK appearance was at York Hall last December for Katie Taylor’s WBA title defence against Jessica McCaskill.
Quartarone has experience of heavyweight fights having refereed Alexander Povetkin’s WBA ‘regular’ title win over Cedric Boswell seven years ago.
The three judges who will score the fight will be made up of representatives from the UK, New Zealand and the USA.
Parker, who is from New Zealand, has no issue with the referee, and his trainer Kevin Barry said they felt the officials selected were fair. ‘We’re very happy with the officials that have been appointed.
‘We’ve got three judges – one from New Zealand, one from the UK, one from the United States. ‘We’ve got an Italian referee. We signed off on those officials [at the beginning of March]. We’re very happy with what the various sanctioning bodies have appointed for us.’
