Juan Manuel Marquez refuses to let Joe Cortez ref fight with Diaz
by Scott Christ on Feb 3, 2009 2:59 PM EST
in Boxing News Analysis
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Veteran referee Joe Cortez won't be working the February 28 lightweight championship showdown between Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz, as Marquez has rejected Cortez's services for the bout.
Cortez has been under a lot of fire the last couple years, starting with his officiating in the Mayweather-Hatton bout, then followed by some complaints about his performance in the Hopkins-Calzaghe fight, and then it all sort of spilled into one of the worst calls in years when he disqualified Humberto Soto against Francisco Lorenzo the first time around. Unless I'm forgetting something (and I may be), I don't think Joe has reffed a major title fight since the Soto-Lorenzo fiasco.
Marquez called Cortez "the enemy" of Mexican boxers, which I think is pretty dumb, and sort of hides the fact that Marquez doesn't want Cortez to referee his fight because he thinks he's bad at his job, which is going to be a factor in Cortez's career. When a high-profile fighter like Marquez won't let a name guy referee his fight, it sort of sends a message out to other fighters, promoters, athletic commissions, etc.
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This is ridiculous.
Cortez is top notch. He’s personally trained many of the best referees in the game now. Seems like boxers and fans have a set of imaginary rules in their mind (holding is allowed, punches slightly below the beltline should be legal, rabbit punches should be ignored, in the heat of the moment its ok to hit your opponent when he’s down, don’t take a point before at least 2 warnings etc.) and expect the referee to enforce these non-rules. Cortez will always enforce actual boxing rules in order to best protect the fighters. Deal with it.
That said, I doubt if Marquez thinks Cortez is a bad ref. My guess is that the Marquez camp actually didn’t want him for some specific strategic reason. Perhaps they’re planning on holding Diaz to slow his non-stop onslaught, and KNOW they won’t be able to get away with it with Cortez.
It's not the size of the dog... It's whats in the fight of Bernard Hopkins! -BHOP
Cortez
I don’t think he’s bad, really. I think he blew the Soto-Lorenzo call horribly, because that happens. Margarito tagged Cotto while he was on his knee last year. It happens.
But the Hatton fight I thought he called well. Ricky gets away with a LOT in most of his fights, which I don’t think a lot of Hatton’s fans (the ones more casual in their boxing viewing) totally understand. And I actually thought he did OK not totally buying B-Hop’s “oohhhh my nuts” routine in the Calzaghe fight.
"I was trying to rob him. And he took my gun from me. And the gun was full of blanks. And he shot a blank into my eye. And now I cannot see from this eye ever again, the doctors say."
"Well to be honest it sounds like it's all your fault."
FWIW
The official rules DO say it’s an automatic disqualification if you hit someone when his knee is on the ground. I realize that’s not the practice, but it is the rule.
Vogt early, Vogt often.
I know
But Cortez himself might have even played a part in that. He kept flinching like he was going to stop it, then backed out. Lorenzo would throw back a bit and Cortez would go back and forth like he was doing the hokey pokey. He was awful.
"I was trying to rob him. And he took my gun from me. And the gun was full of blanks. And he shot a blank into my eye. And now I cannot see from this eye ever again, the doctors say."
"Well to be honest it sounds like it's all your fault."
Righto....
I would suggest that you watch the Hatton/PBF fight again, and follow it by watching the Hopkins/Calzaghe fight.
In the first, Cortez jumps all over Ricky whenever he gets within 2 feet of Floyd, and in the second, Cortez allows Hopkins to get away with holding, pushing Calzaghe’s right hand down and holding it there, headbutting, all sorts. If he was consistent in his reffing, then no problem. But if he keeps moving the goalposts regarding what he will and will not allow, it makes him look incompetent at best and nepotistic at worst.
It can’t be a coincidence, surely, that he stopped the British fighter “getting away with a lot” in the first, but allowed the American fighter to do what the hell he wanted in the second? He allows an American fighter to turn his back on Ricky consistently, with no censure, but won’t stop an American fighter from butting and holding Calzaghe?
And I haven’t even mentioned his farcical point-deduction in the Hatton fight. I didn’t realise that punching the top rope was worthy of a point-deduction in today’s World Title bouts? They must have slipped that rule change in under the radar. Well at least Ricky won’t make that mistake again.
Does the fact a boxer doesn't switch weight divisions during their career detract from their overall P4P ranking?
Cos I'd take Hagler over most heavies in history, P4P, and also over "6 weight world champion" Oscar De La Hoya, and Marvellous Marvin never really messed about with his weight, did he?
“I would suggest that you watch the Hatton/PBF fight again”
I’ve watched it a few times. My mind’s not going to change.
and follow it by watching the Hopkins/Calzaghe fight.
That fight’s so fuck ugly boring that I’ll pass and take your word for it.
"I was trying to rob him. And he took my gun from me. And the gun was full of blanks. And he shot a blank into my eye. And now I cannot see from this eye ever again, the doctors say."
"Well to be honest it sounds like it's all your fault."
LOL
Fair enough…. :)
I just think Cortez has had his day. His inconsistency and some really bad decisions have proved that.
Does the fact a boxer doesn't switch weight divisions during their career detract from their overall P4P ranking?
Cos I'd take Hagler over most heavies in history, P4P, and also over "6 weight world champion" Oscar De La Hoya, and Marvellous Marvin never really messed about with his weight, did he?
hmmm.
I think Joe could have helped himself by admitting he made a bad call in the Soto fight.
Maybe the job can go to Smoger, I think he is a great ref.
Smoger
I really used to think of him almost only as a guy that let fights go on “too long” sometimes, but over the last few years he’s become one of the best referees in the sport, IMO. His rep for not stopping fights has even been curbed a bit; I mean he jumped in on Taylor when Pavlik was beating him down, and that was just months after he let Edison Miranda stand up to an awful beating against Pavlik.
"I was trying to rob him. And he took my gun from me. And the gun was full of blanks. And he shot a blank into my eye. And now I cannot see from this eye ever again, the doctors say."
"Well to be honest it sounds like it's all your fault."
Lorenzo - Soto
Honestly, I think Joe saw the damage to Fransisco’s face and got freaked out / indignant about what he saw as a cheap shot on a guy who was totally outgunned and definitely in danger.
That’s not an excuse for the call… I thought was a very bad call. But I think the outrage over it was a little blown out of proportion. If a guy dies off a cheap or a late shot, its Joe’s fault. Maybe he was trying to send a message that he didn’t want fighters thinking they could get away with that sort of thing in his ring.
"I want to see ocean. I want to see black people. I want to see palms." - Wladimir Klitschko
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6RgBFoAtT8
Look at 2.22…
If you are Marquez how can you say he is a good ref? We all saw how Soto got DQ’ed with a shot that barely registered but Manny didn’t even get a warning.
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