Recently I had the opportunity to speak with Hall of Fame referee, judge and now journalist and special contributor for ESPN, Joe Cortez. We discussed a number of topics which include; Froch vs. Groves 2 and the controversial stoppage from the first fight, thoughts and predictions on the Pacquiao-Bradley 2 match up, as well as discussion of Mayweather vs. Maidana and Cotto vs. Martinez. Here is what Joe Cortez had to say.

Robert Brown: Who are you picking in the upcoming rematch between Carl Froch and George Groves?

Joe Cortez: I gotta go with Carl Froch on this one because Carl Froch knows that he has to prove himself and I think he has the edge coming into this fight. It’s gonna be a toss up but I gotta go with Carl Froch, for the simple reason that he’s more experienced, and he doesn’t want to lose that title, he wants to maintain his name and reputation. It’s gonna be an interesting night of boxing, let’s see what he’s got. If he’s the old Carl Froch of the past, he’ll do okay.

Robert Brown: Mayweather has decided on his new opponent, it will be Marcos Maidana. What are your thoughts on that fight, and the possible problems that Maidana may bring to Mayweather? Why did Floyd choose Maidana over Khan?

Joe Cortez: Well you know, Maidana and Khan, when they fought the first time–which I refereed–Khan ended up winning a decision. Maidana had Khan in some serious trouble in the later rounds. Even though Khan beat Maidana, Maidana has proven himself, that was almost 3 years ago and Maidana has come forward and has beaten a good outstanding fighter in Adrien Broner.

Khan hasn’t really beaten anybody of any importance for him to get the Mayweather fight. He may get the Mayweaher fight after Maidana-Mayweather, I think that Maidana has earned the position to fight Floyd Mayweather now and I think that Mayweather is gonna take Maidana to school. He’s gonna take Maidana to school!

Maidana is a good fighter, aggressive, but Mayweather is very crafty, has great defense, has great speed, has great lateral movement. Mayweather doesn’t like to get hit, he doesn’t hardly ever get hit and he sure doesn’t wanna get hit by Maidana because Maidana does have a good knock out punch.

Robert Brown: Did Mayweather bow to public pressure and perception in terms of picking Maidana over Khan?

Joe Cortez: Well I think that Mayweather was playing a mind game actually. Amir Khan would have been a great opponent for Mayweather but in reality, the network has a lot to do with this, and since it’s gonna be a PPV event.

I think that the fans will pay more money to watch Marcos Maidana against Floyd Mayweather than what Amir Khan would do, for the simple reason that Maidana just got over an impressive win over Adrien Broner, who is a favorite fighter, undefeated.

Now the fans are thinking, “Well if he did that to Broner, maybe he’ll put up a much better fight against Floyd.” Everybody is aiming to take the title from him, he wants to be number one, numero uno in boxing by defeating Floyd Mayweather.

Let’s see what happens, but I think that Maidana is gonna have his hands full because I’ve been in the ring with both fighters and I can tell you, Floyd Mayweather has a lot more speed, a lot more boxing skills than any fighter out there, including Maidana.

Robert Brown: Adrein Broner was desperate to invoke his rematch clause to fight Maidana, now Floyd has taken that option away. Where does this leave Broner? Who should Broner fight next and at what weight?

Joe Cortez: Well it’s gonna be at 147 lbs. Now Adrien Broner, maybe he would be a good match for Amir Khan and then the winner of that, well Adrien Broner still got a ways to go before he fights Mayweather, but Amir Khan vs. Broner would be a good match up at 147lbs. Being that Maidana is getting a shot at Mayweather, put Broner-Khan on the under card, that would be a fight of interest.

Robert Brown: We have the Pacquiao-Bradley rematch coming up. I think Bradley has improved since the first fight. How do you see that fight playing out?

Joe Cortez: Well, Manny Pacquiao just got over that win in Macao, China against Brandon Rios. It was a pretty decent fight for Manny Pacquiao, he was not fighting at 100% like he had done in the past–he was not as aggressive, but he did enough to win a unanimous decision.

I think that with Bradley and Pacquiao, Bradley is another figher, again a fighter like Marquez, I think Bradley seems to have Manny Pacquiao’s number, even though the fans felt it was a very controversial decision. Some fans think otherwise, they thought Bradley had done enough to get a win, so here’s the rematch.

These rematches sometimes turn out to be better than the actual first fight, so let’s see what happens. I think that Manny Pacquiao has seen his better days, if he doesn’t show up against Bradley in the rematch come April, I think it’s gonna be a very difficult fight for Pacquiao. Pacquiao has to show that he’s got those skills. That was a devastating knock out at the hands of Manny Marquez, he has question marks about his future.

Manny Pacquiao has been in some tough wars, like he had with Marquez. Pacquiao’s been beaten up pretty good in the past, especially the last couple of years, and you know, as you keep hitting that trunk of a tree with a hatchet, eventually the whole tree is gonna cave in.

I hope Manny Pacquiao can withstand the pressure of Bradley, the boxing skills and the decent power punching that Bradley has. It should be a great night of boxing, but I predict Bradley is gonna win a unanimous decision.

Robert Brown: A consequence of that prediction is that Manny Pacquaio’s career will be over, are you expecting that Pacquiao’s career ends with the Timothy Bradley fight?

Joe Cortez: Yeah, if Manny Pacquiao loses that fight, I think that he may hang up the gloves and go on his merry way. He’s a nice young man, very charismatic, very intelligent and he has a political career in front of him and maybe he should go down and take care of business in his beautiful country of The Philippines.

He’s very well loved by everyone in The Philippines, and very well loved by all boxing fans around the world. I personally think he’s a fine man, I think he will make a great politician. I wish him the best, but let’s see what happens when he fights the rematch against Timothy Bradley.

Robert Brown: There’s a match coming up between Sergio Martinez and Miguel Cotto, how do you see that fight playing out?

Joe Cortez: I think that’s gonna be an interesting match for the simple reason that Miguel Cotto is a seasoned veteran who’s been around. He’s 33 years old and he’s been in some tough wars himself but Sergio Martinez, great fighter and he got a decision over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. last year. Chavez knocked Sergio Martinez down in the last round and he was really close in knocking out Martinez.

The inactivity of Martinez is what can be a problem for him. If I was Martinez, I would have come back with a tune up fight with somebody a lot easier to fight than Cotto, because of his inactivity. I think that it’s gonna be a fight for Cotto to try to go at him.

Now Cotto has never fought at middleweight, the heaviest he fought before was at 154 lbs. He won 3 titles, he’s going for his 4th title in 4 different weight classes, and he will be the first Puerto Rican to do so if he beats Sergio Martinez.

Martinez, I think is gonna have his hands full, he does have some speed, he looks pretty quick hitting the speed bag and whatnot, he looks kind of quick moving around the gym but can he do that against a season veteran like Miguel Cotto who happens to be a decent puncher himself?

For the simple reason that Sergio Martinez is 39 years of age, does he get old? We’ll see if he got old over night, or does he still have a little spark of the old flash. My gut feeling, and I’m not going Cotto because I’m Puerto Rican myself, I’m calling it the way I see it. On paper it looks like a good match for Sergio Martinez who I believe is a 2.5-1 favorite, I gotta go with Cotto by a very close decision.

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