Did Cortez affect the result?

Kind of. He was too involved and was allowing Khan to turn his back on Maidana. Personally, I think the fight should have been stopped.

 

I don't really think he did. Certainly not in the way some people are making out he was harsh against Maidana.

For starters, he could have easily forced Maidana to fight back straight away after the 9 count in the first round. But Cortez was happy enough to let Maidana turn around getting up from the knockdown, which effectively gave him another 6 or 7 seconds before Khan could get to him again.

I think the point taken off in the 4th or 5th round was a little harsh. But Cortez did get caught quite hard with an elbow so you can't blame him too much if he was a bit pissed off.

Then in the 10th round when Khan was hurt, Amir was running away but was there ever really a time when Cortez could have fairly jumped in to stop the fight? I don't think so. Khan was nearly always on his feet moving away and always had his hands up. It was a big fight and a premature stoppage wasn't necessary. There were a few times Maidana got in close and Khan turned around which I guess Cortez could have penalised Khan for but that would have also been soft.

At the end of that round he had a word in the Khan corner saying he doesn't want to see him taking punishment again which was good refereeing. Amir improved the round after and a lot of people seem to even think he won the 11th.

 

Well there's a lot of fighters who will have looked at that 10th round and been stopped for a lot lot less. I need to rewatch round 10 but i must admit i turned to my father and said ''He's gonna stop this Khan's not throwing anything back..''.

Personally Cortez job is to protect the fighters saftey he's lucky Khan took it all and his immense conditioning dragged him through.

I do wonder if Cortez was trying to be fairer to Khan due to his performance in Hatton fight.

End of the day Khan was still standing at the end of the fight so he won fair and square IMO. But some ref's would of stopped it and there would be no grounds for arguments.

 

fight could have been stopped in the first round

 

thats very true, was was bouncing about the ring and you have to ask if the tables had been turned would maidana have been stopped? im inclined to think so

as for the point deduction, it was totally appropriate. he tried to elbow him and deserved a point

 

I never mentioned the point deduction....

 

one thing id like someone to answer me, was the tenth (and one or two other rounds) where khan was rocking about not really throwing anything else back scored as 10-8?


If not so, then i dont know what a 10-8 round with no KDs would look like?


People seem to think that because Khan 'took' maidanas punches, it was automatic that he got the decision and all his troubles are behind him. There was also some situations where Khan should have been warned for infractions - I remember miguel diaz saying in between rounds hey you took one off us what about that?

That being said, you have to respect his balls and skills in beating a top fighter in his class. Did Cortez change the course of the fight? Probably not but he did give small advantages to Khan

 

If Amir Kahn was the challenger the fight might have been stopped in the tenth round. But refs' seem to give the championship holder a bit more leeway, they give them a chance to come back.

The ref came to Amir's corner after the tenth and said he was going to stop it if Khan took more punches in the 11th, roach would have have thrown the towel in as well, but Amir came back in the 11th.

 

The point deduction was spot on.

You can't go throwing elbows.

 

i think he was correct to keep the fight going. If khan had been taking a beaten in the previous rounds then thats a different story. A lot of soft stops rightly come when a guy is getting outclassed and has no chance of winning but that wasn't the case. Maidana still had 2 full rounds to finish him.

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTCchKck6oA[/ame]

 

I don't think Cortez should have stopped it in the 10th. Khan was hurt but he was just the right side of the line to convince Cortez that he was ok to continue. He only really looked in serious trouble from the initial shot and maybe once or twice in the minute after that. The fact that he got on his bike helped his cause, that he was almost always moving around the ring, the fact that when trapped he held up a tight defence (despite taking a couple of uppercuts and hooks), the fact that he smiled at Maidana, shook his head, even starting firing back with combinations at the end of the round, all helped. In fact, his survival skills were very impressive all things considered.