Joe Cortez - Unlucky or incompetent????/

Title say's it all... I think when he wants to be he's as good as any other ref.....Thought he handled Floyd and Hatton ok apart from the point off...(Hatton was spoiling)..Thought his handling of Ortiz-May and it's ending were okay....There are other examples but Lane and Steele made mistakes!!

Think he tends to get put in situations other referees are lucky enough to avoid..... but what I will say is I think he favors hispanic fighters as Starlingv Molly showed (only one in the building to not see it was late)....

Overall more unlucky than incompetent.....for me.

He was definitely unlucky at the weekend he didn't do much wrong. He never had his eyes on the action but that's not an excuse for Ortiz not defending himself.

Incompetent would be harsh but probably shouldn't be officiating top fights any more. Any slight mistake he makes and he gets slated. Certainly not the worst referee around but probably not a top level ref any more. I would much rather see Kenny Bayliss in charge of more top fights.

Has he got children? If not I would say impotent.

You raised some great points Truss,

Regardless, he gets too involved in some fights and seeing as he has his on bloody nickname, I would say his ego gets in the way of his judgement.

I would also say that he finds himself in situations (such as Mayweather v Ortiz) DUE to in incompetence. We would not question his skills as an official had he kept his eye on both boxers when the KO occurred.

What did you think of the fight anyway mate?

Overmatched wasn't he...as we all worried he might be..

A bit of both and just too old, agree with Kev and would like Bayliss in charge in the future, he's a decent ref.

To me Cortez was unlucky, the fighters know the rules, cortez gave too much respect to Mayweather. In expecting the "cash-cow" to give him back respect... Mayweather took the punches and the headbutt and must have thought"bloody hell this hurts i am getting OLD" Mayweather knew he had to win at any cost to get his retirement pension when he will lose to Manny Pacquioa.. This is my opinion..

cortez was unlucky with what happened after but was punished for the incompitencies in the worst way. if he didnt make the mistakes the outcome wouldnt have been the same, so i think its a mixture of both, he was incompetent but was unlucky in the fact the consequences were so severe. tony weeks or someone like that should be doing these type of fights.

Joshsmith wrote:To me Cortez was unlucky, the fighters know the rules, cortez gave too much respect to Mayweather. In expecting the "cash-cow" to give him back respect... Mayweather took the punches and the headbutt and must have thought"bloody hell this hurts i am getting OLD" Mayweather knew he had to win at any cost to get his retirement pension when he will lose to Manny Pacquioa.. This is my opinion..

i hope youre joking becaure thats complete tosh

Definitely incompetent. I’ve thought for many years that he seems to want to be a ‘star’ ref, wanting his bit of the limelight, rather than just doing the bloody job.
He’s always been a twitchy ref, in other words, I don’t necessarily think he really knows what he’s doing. He almost refs fights in quite a panicked way. It doesn’t instil confidence.

Personally, I thought his refereeing of the Hatton fight was a disgrace. I think he was waaaayyyy too involved. Then in contrast his handling of the Calzaghe v Hopkins fight was the opposite, allowing Hopkins to get away with murder. Then his handling of the Soto fight. I mean, Jesus, how many times does this guy need to mess up before he gets put out to pasture !!!

Truss, one thing stood out in my mind actually...

You say that Cortez finds himself in with fights others would normally avoid... but let's look at Mills Lane.

He officiated:

Lewis v McCall 2
Tyson v Holyfield 2
Lewis v Akinwande
Holyfield v Bowe 2

He has handled all of those efficiently and fairly without getting too involved. The controversy of these fights were handled correctly by Lane. Where as Cortez often finds himself at the centre of the controversy.

I think the issue is, that Cortez wants to be revered as the top Ref in the sport. Hence his pathetic trademarked nickname, as for his "ref school" as for his inability to stay out of the action.

He wants to be famous for the wrong reasons. Kenny Bayless has refereed some massive fights but I can guarantee you wouldn't know which ones... that's the point of the ref... so he isn't at the forefront of the action unless completely necessary.

I just feel he isn't unlucky by finding himself in the situations, as he's the one who has caused them.

AlexHuckerby..
I do not know why but you remind me of great times and some bad times with your name. Alex the Belfast king of snooker and all time Legend..And then Huckerby.Who was a total joke at Leeds.
I was not joking.. good day

glad i give you those nostalgic feelings josh.