David Benavidez has no shortage of HUGE fights on his radar. In an exclusive interview with BoxingScene, Jose Benavidez Sr. makes it clear that David still wants the biggest names at 175lbs including Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev. Benavidez has previously said those are two fights he wants to make as he pursues more titles and major challenges. But there’s another name that could make things very interesting: Andy Ruiz Jr. Jose discusses the possibility of an all-Mexican showdown between Benavidez and the former heavyweight champion, along with David’s plans across multiple divisions. And with a potential Jai Opetaia showdown also building after the pair came face-to-face following Opetaia’s latest victory, Benavidez has some massive options ahead.
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By Pablo Fletes, notifight.com
Veteran referee Joe Cortez was involved in one of the most controversial fights of 2011, when Floyd Mayweather Jr. knocked out Victor Ortiz in September to win the WBC welterweight title at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Ortiz, in the process of apologizing for an illegal head butt, dropped his guard to approach Mayweather, who took advantage by landing two solid punches to knock Ortiz out. Ortiz claimed that Cortez never advised them to fight on, which is why he dropped his guard.
"Boxing is a sport where there is always controversial results, such as mine with Mayweather-Ortiz," said Cortez. "One always tells the boxers 'protect yourself at all times', but what Ortiz did to Mayweather looked bad, to me as a referee. It was not a good thing for the sport, but boxing should move forward.
Do you feel lost control of this fight that generated millions of dollars?
"The problem is that it happened in a split second. I wondered why Ortiz dropped his guard? He should not have lowered his guard, and he had already done it once or twice before. And Mayweather took advantage."
Was this move by Mayweather illegal or not?
"No, it was all within the rules. I did not say box with my mouth, because there were so many people [at the arena], they would not have heard my voice. So I waved the boxers [to fight on], and this always happens when you have an arena with 13 or 15 thousand fans inside. At that time, Ortiz dropped his guard and took Mayweather's punches."
