Not saying the ref would have changed the outcome BUT HOW BAD WAS CORTEZ His refering was disgraceful considering how much he let Hopkins get away with against Calzaghe and how little he let Hatton get away with against Mayweather, IMO Mayweather is still a league above Hatton BUT Cortez was AN ABSOLUTE DISGRACE THAT FIGHT.
I was only thinking the same thing the other night when I was watching the Hatton - Malignanni fight for the first time.
I don't think Hatton would of won with the performance he was putting in on the night anyway, but I think it would of at least gone the distance, with him stealing maybe 3 or 4 rounds.
Cortez was horribly frustrating that night. He didn't just break clinches instantly, he broke them up whenever they got within a foot of each other. As if he was breaking clinches that might occur in the future, or as if in-fighting was illegal.
cortez had no need to be like that in the hatton fight as pbf would of won any way but we would have seen a better fight which would of been alot more enjoyable for the fans.
A different ref would have probably mean a UD loss for Hatton. There's no doubt that Cortez was awful in that fight and Hatton let it go to his head which contributed to his lack of self control after the ridiculous point dediuction and getting knocked out. There is no doubt that Cortez is a hypocrite when you look at what he let Hopkins get away with in the Calzaghe fight.
Cortez is one of the worst refs in history. He went from above average to the crappiest big fight ref. Has he reffed any big fights lately?