Strange but true...now that describes his reffing in a ****ing nutshell. That should be his catchphrase.
In the words of the immortal Larry Holmes phrase Cortez isnt fit to carry Mills Lane's jock strap. Cortez is a suspect referee he is very biased. Ok maybe he didnt cause the outcome of the hatton-PBF fight. BUT he took away any chance Hatton had. He was VERY biased in PBF's favor
I have said for many years that Joe Cortez was a horrible referee and finally the truth has come to pass. You only learn about a bad situation when it affects you directly, which as Hatton fans will point out, did when their man fought Mayweather. Ricky Hatton, Humberto Soto, Evander Holyfield, and Kirk Johnson know the deal and now everyone else does too.
Mayweather was doing as much holding as Hatton was. I don't think Hatton would have won with another ref in charge by any means, but Floyd was getting away with murder because Cortez was staring at Hatton constantly.
I don't understand the criticism over the Hatton Mayweather fight, look at the first couple of rounds, they're both being very rough in the clinches-a good example being Hatton bending Mayweather's arm back a la Tyson-Botha. Cortez puts a stop to it and the Hatton fans go nuts!
I think one of the main reasons people drag up the PBF/Hatton fight as an example of appalling refereeing, is not entirley about they "who was holding who" debacle. If you watch most rounds, on the few occasions that the fighters were allowed to get in close witout Cortez interfeering, Floyd just stuck his elbows in Hattons face as a defence, "this alos being highly illegal and yet not one warning" I feared right from the start that we would be robbed of seeing a true virtuoso performance from Floyd because Cortez was sooo hyped about watching fro Hattons fouls that he totally forgot there were 2 guys in the ring. Btw I also think PNf wins this matchup regardless, just would have been nice to see it unfold naturally rather than dictated by a true bafoon in every sense of teh word
The ref had nothing to do with it. Hatton's mother could have been the ref that night and he still was going into that ring post:deal