What you got against Cortez? I like him.

[bojangles1987]

Cortez is an awful, awful, horrendous referee, who has constantly gotten in the way of fights. He misses fouls, he's inconsistent, he constantly gets involved during infighting, and as he showed this weekend he can't even stop a fight before a fighter takes a few unnecessary shots.

What a crap thread.

[paulf]

Bayless is the best IMO. I never really fall in love with reffing because like it was stated earlier, "The best ref is the one you dont see". But....When you draw fighters like Bhop and Hatton you really have to work. How can you all pick the fights with the most difficult fighters and decide he's **** as a ref. What about the other hundred something championship fights he had without incident. Ive seen many many worse refs I cant call by name. You cant throw daggers because your favorite guy comes up short. Not you in particular just in general that does seem like where the biggest gripes are coming from. I mean its real anger and it puzzles me.

I was rooting for Floyd against Ricky and didn't have a favorite in Zaghe/Hopkins (lifelong Roy Jones fan). I also brought up Khan/Maidana as well. Of course there are many bad refs who's names we don't know, but how many controversies or gripes do Drakulich and Bayless get?

When it comes to the "A-list" referees, I feel Cortez is the worst of the bunch. Whenever I hear a big fight I want to see announced, I always hope its Bayless or at least Smoger as the third man in the ring.

[LongLeggedMackD]

Cortez is straight incompetent, he seems to think hes as much part of the show as the fighters, hes inconsistent on a fight to fight basis. Hes got a catchphrase for f-sake! what does he need a catchphrse for hes supposed to be ensuring that a fair fight is taking place he shouldnt have time to think about his damn catchphrase!
overall its his blatant inconsistency that most winds me up about him....and his air of arrogance.
it goes like this IMO.
1. SMOGER
2. BAYLESS
3. MICKEY VANN
4.DRACULA
Cortez dont even register cos he sucks way too bad.

[Cuauhtémoc1520]

I like Cortez and think you guys are way to hard on him. He's one of the best refs in the game IMO and there's no ref that doesn't make mistakes. Yes he should have stopped the fight a little sooner but the Ko came quickly, easier on tv than in real time.

[esconore]

Mmm nobody mentioned Tony Weeks as being a good ref

[shade darkar]

because he spoils fights. simple as that. we go to watch the fight, not joe cortez.

[shade darkar]

Cortez is a great referee. The problem here is people are sore losers and need to shift the blame to someone else other than their fighter for losing. Hatton and Maidana, both brawlers, lost to a better boxer. In both cases their cry baby fans blamed Cortez for not letting them fight on the inside, which was nothing more than holding and hitting. Who the hell wants to see a fight full of holding and hitting? If you can't win without doing that, you're not that good and don't deserve to win. Go to MMA if you can't fight like a boxer. Rios, also a brawler, didn't need to hold and hit to win, thats why he won with Cortez as the referee. Had Rios lost, you better believe a lot of Rios fans would have put all the blame on Cortez.

yes there are those people, but thats not the point. obviouisly mayweather was and is better than hatton ever could of been, but that doesnt make it right! alot of the time hatton got anywhere near the inside, cortez was in there quicker than you could say cortez is a wanker. and to make matters worse, i didnt see cortez **** hopkins for the same thing against calzaghe. cortez let hopkins work, like he should of done in the mayweather hatton fight. Also it isnt just hatton fans that dont like cortez.

[Fish_Scotland]

Cortez is a great referee. The problem here is people are sore losers and need to shift the blame to someone else other than their fighter for losing. Hatton and Maidana, both brawlers, lost to a better boxer. In both cases their cry baby fans blamed Cortez for not letting them fight on the inside, which was nothing more than holding and hitting. Who the hell wants to see a fight full of holding and hitting? If you can't win without doing that, you're not that good and don't deserve to win. Go to MMA if you can't fight like a boxer. Rios, also a brawler, didn't need to hold and hit to win, thats why he won with Cortez as the referee. Had Rios lost, you better believe a lot of Rios fans would have put all the blame on Cortez.

All I ask from a ref is to remain consistant. Cortez has always been that. He does call break a tad early but he always has. I have no complaints.

[studentofthegam]

Cortez is an awful, awful, horrendous referee, who has constantly gotten in the way of fights. He misses fouls, he's inconsistent, he constantly gets involved during infighting, and as he showed this weekend he can't even stop a fight before a fighter takes a few unnecessary shots.

What a crap thread.

It seems to be a pretty live dicussion to me. Why did you join friend. One of my major points was that he's consistently the same way. the difference in the Zags/Hopkins and May/Hatton is that Floyd showed resistance to Hattons clinching and Calzaghe didnt seem to mind. Like you said he constantly gets involved in in fight so fighters have to adjust on the fly. Its like when I coached little league. I tell my players "If the umpire decides a game then we didnt do our job".

The whole fight?

He was breaking Hatton and Mayweather up when they were still punching each other.

Watch the fight with Humberto Soto. He doesnt have a ***in clue what hes doing

Quick question. You didnt think he was such a bad guy when his style of reffing bought time for Khan huh? Honestly I know its always more visible when the ref is doing things to limit my guy. I have yet to hear anyone speak on that fight and it was pretty clear. And Floyd's been using those elbows as long as I can remember so we should have a laundry list of bad third men. Boxing is a sport that personifies the old saying "If you aint cheating you aint tryin". Good vids but referees dont get to pause action.

[victorythagr8]

his reffing is beyond terrible.

ANd its not by sore losers either.


Watch Barrera vs Pacquaio when pacquaio obviously slip and he counted as a knocked down.