By Chris LaBate
Junior welterweight Marcos Maidana claims referee Joe Cortez cost him a victory last Saturday at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Madiana had WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan in a lot of trouble in the tenth round. Khan was seriously hurt and taking punishment. Maidana claims Cortez would not allow him to work on the inside to finish Khan off.
"I had him hurt. I was working and he stopped me from working. At one point, I even thought he was going to punch me, the referee," Maidana said.
Maidana said the ref was always warning him during the fight and telling him to "fight clean." He was also also upset with the scoring. Maidana felt the scores were too wide on two of the cards where Khan was given a tally of 114-111.
"He kept telling me to 'fight clean, fight clean' and I was trying to but I thought Amir was holding too much and he wasn't letting me work," Maidana said. "I was a little upset with the scoring, it was a wide margin. I thought it was closer. This is a sport and sometimes that's how it goes. I just have to move on."
