Recently I had the opportunity to speak with Hall of Fame referee, judge and now journalist and special contributor for ESPN, Joe Cortez. In this interview, Joe spoke about Deontay Wilder’s victory over Bermane Stiverne and what he feels is next for the newly crowned heavyweight champ. Cortez also weighed in on the Mayweather-Pacquiao negotiations and gave his prediction for the fight if it is to take place. Lastly, Joe Cortez spoke about rising star, Keith Thurman and British welterweight, Amir Khan. Here is what Joe Cortez had to say.
Robert Brown: What were your thoughts on Deontay Wilder’s performance over Bermane Stiverne?
Joe Cortez: Stiverne said he was not gonna give up his WBC championship. He tried but Deontay Wilder had too much leverage on him — the height, the long reach, he kept him at a distance, combinations from the outside. One of the judges gave Wilder all twelve rounds.
The fans wanted to see an American champion, well they got one now. Now we’ll see him against other top contenders in the very near future so that he can prove that he’s a worthy champion. We have to see him against the other contenders out there. Tyson Fury is a possible opponent for him, I think that would be good. Let him fight some big name fighters, then he can go after Klitschko.
Robert Brown: When do you think Wilder will be ready for Klitschko?
Joe Cortez: I think maybe a year from now he’ll be ready, but he has to prove himself. This was the first time he’s gone over four rounds, he went the twelve rounds and he showed that he can stay in there, but I want to see him against some other top notch heavyweights and then we’ll take it from there.
Robert Brown: What do you think about Shannon Briggs’ persistent social media campaign to fight Wladimir Klitschko? Do you think he’ll get the fight as a result of this?
Joe Cortez: I’d like to see him fight one of the top contenders. Beat one of the top contenders and then you go for the title.
Robert Brown: Briggs has been stalking Wladimir, do you think Klitschko after a while will just give in and fight him?
Joe Cortez: Klitschko has been very active, he’s a hard puncher and Shannon Briggs hasn’t really fought anybody worth while. I don’t see much of a chance for Shannon Briggs if he was to fight Klitschko.
Robert Brown: There’s been a lot of negotiations between Mayweather and Pacquiao. What do you think of the negotiations and do you think the fight will happen?
Joe Cortez: I want to see Floyd Mayweather sign the contract. If it doesn’t happen within the next ten days, I would say it’s not gonna happen. It has to be taken care of within the next ten days because we’re getting too close to May 2nd — the day of the fight that they’re talking about.
They need time to promote the fight and every day that goes by without signing that contract, it’s not a good thing. They gotta hurry up and take care of thing, let’s see if Floyd Mayweather signs the contract.
Robert Brown: Does Manny Pacquiao’s dominant victory over Chris Algieri change your opinion of who you think would win that fight?
Joe Cortez: Manny Pacquiao looked outstanding in beating Chris Algieri, but don’t forget, Chris Algieri is not the same level as Mayweather. Mayweather is a superior fighter with many years of experience and has held on to that championship for over seventeen years, that tells you something about his caliber of a fighter. Chris Algieri was on another level — I thought he was gonna perform better, but he didn’t and Pacquiao looked outstanding putting him down on six occasions.
Robert Brown: Would you still be picking Mayweather?
Joe Cortez: I’d still have to go with Mayweather for this fight because he’s undefeated and he’s been in there for over seventeen years as a world champion, but in boxing things can go wrong for you overnight. In boxing they say you can get old over night.
Mayweather knows his body, he knows how to take care of himself and that’s why he looks so young when he’s fighting, he looks like a young twenty year old, he maintains himself in good shape at all time.
Robert Brown: Amir Khan has wasted so much time by chasing Floyd Mayweather. Does Khan have to move on now and who do you think he should fight?
Joe Cortez: Amir Khan looked outstanding in his last fight when he beat Devon Alexander. He looked better than ever, he looked like he really reached his peak, he’s on top of his game right now. His chin is always been questionable but Devon Alexander could hardly even touch him the whole night. If Khan fights like that against Mayweather, it would be a good match.
I’d like to see Amir Khan fight Marcos Maidana again because I refereed the first time they fought and there was a lot of controversy about the decision. I think Amir Khan, to redeem himself by fighting Maidana and if he beats Maidana then they should be lined up for Mayweather or Pacquiao.
Robert Brown: If Pacquiao vs. Mayweather doesn’t come about, what are your thoughts on a Pacquiao vs. Khan fight?
Joe Cortez: That would be a good fight too, it could be an option for Pacquiao. Fans are dying to see good fights and whoever can step up to the plate and give him a tough fight, that’s what the fans want.
Robert Brown: Rising star, Keith Thurman is coming up against Robert Guerrero. What are your thoughts on that fight?
Joe Cortez: Keith Thurman is an up incoming fighter, he looks very good, he’s very sharp, good puncher. I think Keith Thurman has proven himself to be a good fighter, he’s gonna be a dangerous opponent for any one of the champions out there.
Robert Brown: You will be picking Thurman over Guerrero?
Joe Cortez: Yeah, absolutely.
I think fans cant do anything if money doesn’t want to fight manny,..Money has a lots of money and hes the boss of his ownself whatever he wants ,nobody can stop him..Now he is in caribbean playing with sharks in the morning and playing with beautiful chicks at night but who cares, he will come back to US when the issue about meeting Manny in hotel room is getting colder.
Gayweather will not sign the contract. He will look for another excuse. Hi s next excuse for not signing the contract is that on May 2, 2015, he will have his menstrual period. Boxing fans all over the world should boycott all future fights of Gayweather.
yeah Sergio that’s the “BEST MOVE” boycott all future fights of Gayweather so that Showtime will summon him and force him to fight Pacquiao because he’s not giving Showtime enough revenue coz nobody watches his fights and he’s got two more fights with the said company so this year he has no other choice but to fight Pacquiao hahaha. What now Floyd?
I’m tired of this Gayweather vs Pacquioa not coming to fruition. Gonna put all the blame on Gayweather. He’s been ducking the pacman since day one of the negotiation that was i think five years ago until now he’s trying to avoid him. He knows he can’t win against the pacman. He’s a counter puncher but he’s not like Marquez who counters in 3-4 combo. Gayweather’s just a 1-2 counter puncher and he’s having trouble against lefties. All he can do against the pacman is to punch and run or punch and hug like what Holyfiled did to Tyson “punch then hug”.
He should’ve asked Cortez what he thought about the EXCESSIVE GRABBING & HOLDING that Fraud ScumWeather Jr. did in Maidana 2.
To me, ref. Kenny BrainLess clearly FAILED to do his job.
Or maybe he did his job for his fellow hoodie Fraud JailWeather Jr.
Cortez can’t wait to be chosen by Floyd to referee so he can again rationalize the use of his elbow to aggressively ward off his opponent and conveniently look the other way to give Floyd a chance to KO thru sucker punch. But Bayless may just beat him since Bayless did also a marvelous job saving Floyd from being smothered by Madaina.
Floyd’s deep envy and solar system sized ego keeps her from signing. She will never experience Pacman’s meteoric worldwide status.
HBO is trying to make Mayweather-Pacquiao fight when Floyd is still in HBO. Floyd leave HBO and go to Showtime to make it harder for Bob Arum to make the fight happen. The fight could have been done if Floyd pick the winner of Pacquiao-Marquez 2 bout. Why the best defensive fighter in the world DID NOT choose the fighter he call “1 dimensional” “easy work” “midget”?
=Floyd Mayweather’s Legendary Ducking Resume=
1999 – ducked Joel Casamayor and Shane Mosley (fought Chavez)
2002 – grew balls and fought Castillo (and Castillo got robbed)
2004 – ducked Kostya Tszyu and Winky Wright to fight Demarcus Corley, Henry Bruseles and Arturo Gatti
2006 – (time frame) ducked Margarito and undefeated Cotto (fought Zab Judah? Who just lost)
2007 – ducked Clottey, Paul Williams, undefeated Cotto, Margarito and fought an out of his prime (and already TKOed) Dela Hoya and fought Hatton at 147(not 140)
2008 – Do a FAKE retirement to ducked Clottey, Paul Williams, undefeated Cotto, Margarito and Mosley
2009 – ducked Pacquiao, Cotto, Cintron, Clottey, P Williams, and Mosley and fought a lightweight Marquez(Yes, a lightweight!)
2010 – ducked Pacquiao, Cotto, Cintron, Clottey, P Williams, and Sergio Martinez and fought a faded Mosley
2011 – ducked Pacquiao, Cotto, Cintron, Clottey, and S. Martinez
2012 – ducked Pacquiao, Clottey and S. Martinez and fought Cotto who was TKOed twice already (HBO is trying hard to make Mayweather-Pacquiao fight.)
2013 – ducked Pacquiao (Floyd go to Showtime to make it harder for Bob Arum to make the fight happen.)
2014 – ducked Pacquiao, Lara and Khan((Pac n Lara are his mandatory. Khan won over Maidana on Floyd’s own poll)
2015 – 36yr old Pacquiao slightly loss speed and power. Time to fight?
Floyd also avoided Acelino Freitas, Paul Spadafora and Leonard Dorin.
Most recent ducked fighters, Khan and Lara. Pacquiao and Lara were Floyd’s mandatory. What the so called TBE do? He made a poll between Khan and Maidana. Fans choose Khan. Khan won the poll. Floyd choose the slow and flatfooted Maidana. Not only he ignore his mandatory, he ignore his own poll and more importantly, he ignore his own fans.
Floyd tried so hard to stay away from Pacquiao. Lately he tries to run to Australia. The thing is, they do not allow criminal and coward enter their country.
I want to hear words from Gayweather Fans, do they want to call their idol the COWARD boxer of all time? Gayweather fans must encourage their idol to fight Pacquiao. cool, dude.
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