WHY JOE CORTEZ?
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 28 Sep 2011
We find it impossible to understand why Joe Cortez who to all intents and purposes messed up the recent Floyd Mayweather Jr ? Victor ?Vicious? Ortiz WBC super welterweight title fight has been appointed as referee for the WBO light flyweight title fight between Mexico?s world champion Ramon Garcia Hirales and former WBO minimum weight champion Donnie Nietes.
We understand that Cortez was assigned as referee even before the Mayweather-Ortiz fiasco by none other than WBO president Francisco ?Paco? Valcarcel.
While no malice can be ascribed to Mr. Valcarcel?s appointment of Cortez, we recall that pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao also suffered at the hands of Cortez in his first fight against Erik ?El Terrible? Morales for the vacant WBC and IBA International super featherweight title at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on March 19, 2005.
In the fifth round Pacquiao suffered a nasty gash over his left eyebrow following an accidental clash of heads but Cortez to the consternation of Pacquiao and his corner ruled the cut was caused by a legitimate punch.
However, slow-motion replays clearly showed that it was a head-butt and Cortez was criticized for the blunder as the gash saw blood spurting into the eye of Pacquiao and hampering his vision the rest of the fight which Morales won 115-113 on the scorecards of all three judges.
Pacquiao avenged that loss scoring a 10th round TKO in the rematch with Kenny Bayless as referee and a 3rd round knockout in their third fight with Vic Drackulich as the third man in the ring.
Pacquiao, a major attraction in Las Vegas had made it clear he didn?t want Cortez to referee any of his fights and he never has since then.
Clearly, the Games and Amusements Board under whose jurisdiction the fight is being staged could have taken a stand on the assignment of Cortez but apparently didn?t.
It must be noted that in Las Vegas fights it is the Nevada State Athletic Commission that assigns the referees and judges for fights held under the NSAC jurisdiction and past efforts by the various governing bodies to assign fight officials has been rejected.
We recall what happened when Z ?The Dream? Gorres was clearly robbed of the WBO super flyweight title in his fight against Mexican champion Fernando ?Cochulito? Montiel where referee Samuel Viruet deducted points from Gorres for holding without even a warning.
Interestingly in that fight judges Raul Caiz Sr and Chuck Giampa had Montiel the winner by 114-112 and 115-111 margins while American judge Denny Nelson had Gorres the winner 115-111.
Without exception both local and foreign media had Gorres the winner by a margin of at least 7 rounds to 5 while respected American boxing writer Ace Freeman had the classy Filipino southpaw winning 8 of the 12 rounds.
Concern over what might happen in Bacolod City next Saturday has begun to surface and the GAB must take full responsibility should the supposedly fair but firm Cortez prove to be unfair and soft or unstable and hurts the chances of Nietes who is seeking his second world title.
Filipino fight fans would have certainly felt more assured if so soon after a widely questioned if not criticized performance by Cortez someone else in the mould of a Kenny Bayless or Vic Drackulich was chosen to referee the title fight.
All we can do is hope ? and perhaps pray ? that Joe Cortez will live up to his ?I?m fair but I?m firm? tagline.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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