By Edward Chaykovsky
Retired Hall of Fame referee Joe Cortez has worked some of the biggest fights in the history of the sport and handled several contests involving both Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. Cortez now works as an expert analyst for ESPN Deportes.
Cortez expressed his feelings regarding the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao matchup. Cortez had it scored very wide in favor of Mayweather and sees no reason for a rematch.
Fans waited five to six years for the fight to happen. Cortez says it's to move on, forget any talk of a Mayweather-Pacquiao rematch and look forward to other contests.
"I was not surprised of the outcome, being that I was in the ring with Floyd Mayweather on four occasions as a referee and for three occasions for Pacquiao. I was able to — in my head — figure out that Pacquiao was going to have difficulties and any chance I gave him was if he got lucky and hit Mayweather with a good solid punch and hurt him, which that rarely happens," Cortez told On The Ropes Boxing Radio.
"I think the fans gotta forget about that [rematch]. They got what they wanted to see, the two fighters fought each other but if they were to have a rematch again, I don’t think there’s a reason for a rematch, it was not even close. They gotta move on."