BoxRec

Two guys I respect discuss the impact of Joe Cortez's performance on the chances of a Hatton victory.

Check out Secondsout.com

Excellent American opinion.

Couldn't find it there, how did you find it from the main page?

Look under Radio for Eddie Goldman

I take it they're slagging him off? Steve Kim over at maxboxing was highly critical of Cortez as well I noticed, saying it was the worst big fight ref he'd seen since.....wait for it.....Lewis / Tyson.

Seems to me that a lot of the Yanks wanted Hatton to win as much as the Brits did ( bending over backwards to praise and excuse the booing Brit fans as well )

I thought Cortez was much too fussy as well, but it wasn't anything hadn't seen before really, and would not have changed the result either.

Shame a lot of writers are focusing on the ref's perfomance, rather than the real performance of the night: Mayweather Jr.

For those with long memories, Hatton needed Freddie Brown in his corner.

MW

Hopefully, as you'll know by now, I dont like to focus on such a negative aspect of the fight when there was so much to admire from Floyd. But I think I feel more cheated as a fan than I feel sympathy for Hatton's demise.

The fight pitched two polar opposite but perfectly suited styles together. We all commented how well there styles would gel and mesh to produce a really entertaining and absorbing battle.

I feel Cortez robbed boxing of that fight, he may not have robbed Hatton of a victory but he prevented him making a fist of it and he spoilt my enjoyment of the bout by intervening unfairly.

Hauser clearly doesn't like Mayweather, recounting his domestic battery charges as evidence of his true character and to undermine the theory he is an arsehole just for the cameras and to sell tickets.

I know he's spent time in the Hatton dressing room before fights in the past too, he's pictured clearly in the Hatton book preceding the Collazo fight so he may be biased.

But he's an experienced and objective opinion usually and he felt very strongly Mayweather was excused multiple infringements and yet Hatton was penalised and held for trying to fight.

Cortez visiting the Hatton corner to insist he would stop him was also shocking, and as Ian pointed out, at a key point in the fight.

Hatton lost his concentration, which was a major disappointment. The back turning after the deduction showed he'd lost the plot emotionally and tactically.

I don't know whether Graham could have done any better pulling him back to the fight plan and back together. He still had a lot of rounds to go at that point, there was no need to panic about the score cards.

Easy in retrospect or sitting on the sofa, different in the heat of battle I accept. I don't know what Billy was saying because the corner's were not covered much during the fight.

I think Cortez is a prick. He was clearly in awe of Mayweather, cuddling up to him after the fight.

I can see no justification for him visiting Hatton's corner to tell them he was going to stop the fight, ok, ricky took some big shots, but he hadn't been hurt, or put down! What on earth was going on there.

I hate to insinuate something snide in boxing, but there was such a bad whiff about Cortez' refereeing. I am not saying Hatton would have won, but as Dave says, he robbed us of the more compelling aspects of the fight.

I noticed Hauser was in Hatton's dressing room before and after the fight so there will probably be doing a good feature on the fight.

I can't access this radio stuff at the moment.

The sad thing is, most Refs who regulary do Big Fights are Bought Thats the truth.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:I think Cortez is a prick. He was clearly in awe of Mayweather, cuddling up to him after the fight.

I can see no justification for him visiting Hatton's corner to tell them he was going to stop the fight, ok, ricky took some big shots, but he hadn't been hurt, or put down! What on earth was going on there.

I hate to insinuate something snide in boxing, but there was such a bad whiff about Cortez' refereeing. I am not saying Hatton would have won, but as Dave says, he robbed us of the more compelling aspects of the fight.

I think Cortez does make really rash decisions, when under pressure. The pressure of the event, aided by the Floyd camp's complaints pre fight, brought out his true character.

Cortez was really weird with Hopkins-Allen 3, a routine fight in which Hopkins complained about the ref. Both Hopkins and Cortez went down in my estimation after that awful performance by both men.

He always seemed to have it in for Mike McCallum, so Cortez has always been on my shit list.

I'm sure it wasn't a case of Cortez being "bought" - who would do the buying? Oscar was the power player that night, and he obviously wanted Hatton to win.

Anyone notice a destraught and nervous looking Barrera ringside? He's clearly a big mate of Hatton's, not just for show.

I agree with James and DP - visiting Hatton's corner was out of order on the ref's part. Not like he was taking a long sustained beating...daft move.

I can't find the articles, can some post a link please?

Cortez was beyond terrible. Doubt it changed the outcome but I am amazed he didn't allow any infighting at all in the early rounds breaking them as soon as they got close, yet in the middle rounds he was happy to let them maul up close. One of the worst refereeing performances I can remember.

I think the moment a referee has his own catch phrase he should be forced to retire.

Cortez became a joke, a parody in the fight. Too eager to be in the fight, and his haste in ensuring he had a post fight pic with Mayweather stank too.

DavidPayne wrote:I think the moment a referee has his own catch phrase he should be forced to retire.

THANK YOU

"remember, im tough, but im tender"


and that fcking "salute" Jay Nady does has to go too

"No nawteez wiv d-ed" is another that grew.

punchers chance wrote:I noticed Hauser was in Hatton's dressing room before and after the fight so there will probably be doing a good feature on the fight.

I can't access this radio stuff at the moment.

was lucky enough to be sat next to hauser on my plane back to newyork from vegas on sunday,he entertained myself and a couple of freinds with some great stories,he told us about the times he spent at ali's house while writing a book on him,and numerous other great tales.he said he spent a few hours b4 and after the fight in hattons dressing room and was full of praise for the way hatton and his people went about their business what u see is what u get,he said hatton has real people round him and the same could not be said for flloyd,who hauser had an obvious dislike to as a person.he praised his boxing against hatton but also said what ever chance hatton had of winning the referee made sure it was took away with some awfull refereeing.he said mayweather was to big and quick on the night but hatton still had a few big fights left in him at super lightweight,he thought diaz was the likely next opponent and that the article he was doing on hatton and the fight would be on secondsout.com next week,this meeting made our long journey backmuch quicker and entertaining

Scrap wrote:The sad thing is, most Refs who regulary do Big Fights are Bought Thats the truth.

Do you have proof or are you just speculating? If it's the latter, you have (in all likelihood) chosen the wrong word to conclude your post.

What about Mills Lane and "Let's get it on!" or the recent low level ref thrust into a big fight card who said "Let's Dance!"

DavidPayne wrote: The fight pitched two polar opposite but perfectly suited styles together. We all commented how well there styles would gel and mesh to produce a really entertaining and absorbing battle.

I feel Cortez robbed boxing of that fight, he may not have robbed Hatton of a victory but he prevented him making a fist of it and he spoilt my enjoyment of the bout by intervening unfairly.

Spot on

Chambers2 wrote:

DavidPayne wrote: The fight pitched two polar opposite but perfectly suited styles together. We all commented how well there styles would gel and mesh to produce a really entertaining and absorbing battle.

I feel Cortez robbed boxing of that fight, he may not have robbed Hatton of a victory but he prevented him making a fist of it and he spoilt my enjoyment of the bout by intervening unfairly.

Spot on

He prevented Hatton from holding, grappling and ultimately spoiling. Hatton has increasingly relied on these tactics in the last 24 months or so. I for one thought Cortez did adequately well. He was not perfect but he did not act outside the letter of the boxing law.

Sammy Mendelson wrote:

Chambers2 wrote:

DavidPayne wrote: The fight pitched two polar opposite but perfectly suited styles together. We all commented how well there styles would gel and mesh to produce a really entertaining and absorbing battle.

I feel Cortez robbed boxing of that fight, he may not have robbed Hatton of a victory but he prevented him making a fist of it and he spoilt my enjoyment of the bout by intervening unfairly.

Spot on

He prevented Hatton from holding, grappling and ultimately spoiling. Hatton has increasingly relied on these tactics in the last 24 months or so. I for one thought Cortez did adequately well. He was not perfect but he did not act outside the letter of the boxing law.

Bollocks, in the opening rounds they were chest to chest not holding and he was breaking them.

MightyWarrior wrote:I'm sure it wasn't a case of Cortez being "bought" - who would do the buying? Oscar was the power player that night, and he obviously wanted Hatton to win.

Anyone notice a destraught and nervous looking Barrera ringside? He's clearly a big mate of Hatton's, not just for show.

I agree with James and DP - visiting Hatton's corner was out of order on the ref's part. Not like he was taking a long sustained beating...daft move.

I'm not really one for watching refs unless they are incredibly good or bad. Cortez, on this occasion, was undoubtedly the latter.

Him posing smiling with Mayweather's arm round him for pictures afterwards was in very poor taste.

Good spot MW - Barrera was genuinely upset in the 8th and the 10th rounds. Makes him an even bigger ledge in my book...which isn't really possible anyway!

My biggest problem with Cortez's reffing of the fight was not the seperating, it was that he never took controll of Mayweather in the fight, he was constantly sticking his elbows in Hatton's face. I found this infurating to watch, just how many times can a ref warn a fighter without deducting a point? I seen Cortez verbaly warn Mayweather 4 times for use of the elbows, i'm sure there were other warnings on top of this that i did not see.

For me, Floyd controlled most of the inside fighting with his elbows (and occassionaly his head). Cortez should have been very tough on him about this, it was very blatent and intentional. Had Cortez stamped this out early by deducting a point, it could have changed the whole flow of the fight.

Hatton could certainly have done much better on the inside had he not been eating Floyd's elbows all night!