Joseph Parker's team have succeeded in removing controversial British referee Terry O'Connor from this weekend's WBO world heavyweight title defence in Manchester, though he will still be involved in the fight as a judge.
The original appointment had been a hot issue with Parker promoter David Higgins given O'Connor had controlled opponent Hughie Fury's last two fights and also had history with Fury's cousin Tyson, the former world heavyweight champion.
Higgins has been working tirelessly for the last fortnight behind the scenes to have O'Connor removed, believing a neutral referee should handle a world title fight. He forced the issue at Monday's (Tuesday NZ Time) press conference in London with an outrageous confrontation of the Fury camp over the issue and it seems to have done the trick - to a degree.
The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBoC), who handle the fight logistics for the WBO, has agreed to a compromise and handed the role to Marcus McDonnell.
McDonnell is also British and was originally to be one of the three judges.
The situation doesn't mean a neutral referee, but Higgins is relieved to have O'Connor out of the ring. O'Connor will still be involved in the fight now as a judge.
Team Parker applauded the move by the BBBoC.
"There has been a lot of drama about the officials for this fight and quietly behind the scenes we have been writing good letters to the organisations and we have been offered a compromise by the BBBoC which we will accept," Higgins confirmed.
"Is that ideal? Maybe not but look, it's good ... at least the referee is not the same guy that did Hughie's last two fights. I'm really happy and relieved that change has been made. I think it's an OK outcome
"I'd like to thank the BBBoC for taking that position. I think regardless, the officials are going to be under a lot of scrutiny anywhere because of all the fuss."
McDonnell has refereed 814 bouts. He has been involved in Hughie Fury fights, refereeing his 2015 knockout win over Argentina's Emilio Ezequiel Zarate and was a judge on his last win over Cameroon's Fred Kassi, that was ended early because of a cut to Fury.
Higgins felt the uproar over the weekend at the judging in Las Vegas that saw middleweight superstar Gennady Golovkin draw his bout with Canelo Alvarez would add to the scrutiny in this world title fight. American judge Adalaide Byrd has been suspended after her scorecard was so out of kilter, heavily favouring Alvarez.
"The eyes of the world are going to be on these officials and I'm sure that they want to be seen to do a good job. I think it would be very risky for any official to not be fair now with the level of scrutiny on them," Higgins said.
O'Connor's refereeing performance in the British title fight in 2009 was investigated by the BBBoC after he handed Tyson Fury a controversial win over John McDermott. A rematch was ordered.
This is Team Parker's second victory in the running of the fight after the WBO ordered their vice president John Duggan step in and replace a British official as the fight supervisor in Manchester.
The fight will now be judged by O'Connor and two Americans.
Higgins has written to the WBO to try to get a New Zealand judge on the panel and is waiting for a response.
"If there is a Kiwi to offset the Brits, that would be fine," Higgins said.
Parker's trainer Kevin Barry saw the referee development as positive.
"I applaud the British Boxing Board for listening to David Higgins. I think Dave did a really good job of getting the ref changed," Barry said.
"We don't have neutral officials but we did not like the referee that we had, so onward now for the 23rd.
"They (the BBBoC) were standing pretty steady over the last week to 10 days, saying these were going to the the officials, this is your referee. Well, we have a change, so good work by our team."
Photo by: Reuters (Caption: British referee Terry O'Connor will no longer control Joseph Parker's fight against Hughie Fury, though he will be one of the judges).