"I think the world of Freddie and I think he is one of the best trainers out there. I have always liked him as a fighter and a person. The guy is a good man. People are planting seeds in Freddie Roach's head and telling him he better be careful and not to take a chance with me in there because I'm going to favor my own kind. You know what? If you are a judge on a bench in a courtroom, they don't only assign you to cases with people of your same nationality. They don't do that. That is discrimination and in any other sport, that is prohibitedÂ… I have nothing against any boxers out there. I don't discriminate against any nationality out there like I've been accused of for whatever reasons," stated world-renowned referee Joe Cortez as he shared his thoughts on Freddie Roach's early concern that the Puerto Rican ref was a possible candidate to land the Pacquiao vs. Cotto assignment. Check it out!
PC: How are you doing Joe?
JC: Good! Everything is going good, you know? I've been trying to do a lot of work with the kids and keep them off of the streets; keep them on the right track out of gangs and off of drugs. I'm just trying to be a positive role model for these kids.
PC: Are you a fan of the Super Six tournament?
JC: I think it's good. I think anything that is going to be positive for boxing is good. It's a fair way to find out who the best is instead of having these guys sit around and wait forever.
PC: There was some questionable officiating in the Dirrell/Froch fight and many observers feel the foreign refs aren't looking for the same things you guys are. Would you agree with that?
JC: It's all a judgment call. Sometimes a guy gets hit behind his head, but he turned his head to avoid a punch to his face; he actually caused himself to get hit behind the head. You cannot take a point from a fighter who threw the punch because he didn't actually cause it. You have to actually see it and determine how did he get hit behind the head? You have to look at it many different ways. It's easy to say he should take a point, but you have to physically look at what's going on and make your decision based upon that.
PC: The thing I criticize that ref for more than anything is not giving a stern warning. That way, if you decide to deduct a point, it's not that big of a shock. You are known for giving pretty stern warnings. How important is that?
JC: Yeah, you gotta give a stern warning. Let's just say a fighter hits a guy low and you didn't know whether it was intentional or not, but then he does it again. Then you stop the action and give a real stern warning. However, if you think as a referee and you think it was not an accident and that it was an intentional foul, there are no warnings. It's an automatic point deduction and in some cases, a 2 point deduction. I will give you an example. When I did Mike Tyson against Kevin McBride, he [Tyson] headbutted him and McBride got cut. Would it had been fair for me to give him a strong warning there after the guy was cut and I felt it was intentional? No, so I gave him a point deduction. I actually took 2 points because I felt it was intentional and I had to get control of the situation right on the spot. I didn't give no warning. That's the difference in a ref being a no nonsense referee and one who is not. I tell them their instructions in the dressing room and I tell them I will give them some warnings, however, if I think that the foul was flagrant, there are no warnings and it's an automatic point deduction, if not a 2 point deduction. A referee has to be affirmative with his actions and give his instructions in the dressing room.
That's why you have to check out my new website Percy. Go to www.boxinginyourface.com and go into a segment called "You call it!" It's a video that is set up like a game show. It's a game show and the reason I created this website is because of what you're asking me right now. You will see Tony Weeks, Russell Moore, Kenny Bayless and myself. We're going through different scenarios in there and we stop right in the middle of the film and before we take action, I tell the audience, "You call it!" What we do is go to a remote location and we have a video and ask fans do they think they could referee a fight? Of course most of them say they could referee any fight. We let them watch the scenario and let them make the call. We let them see how wrong they are or how right they are.
PC: I love the idea because everyone is an expert.
JC: You're going to love it Percy and you are the first guy I'm talking to about this. It's going to blow you away Percy. You're going to say, "Joe, this is the best educational tool for the fans and for officials at the same time." But I did it mostly for the fans because I've been criticized and people say, "You should not have disqualified the guy because he was down." But the rules state and I show that and you will see exactly what I'm talking about. When you visit the site, you are going to call me raving and wanting to jump on this bandwagon. I know you are. You are not going to believe it. The reason I say this is because my friends and anyone that has seen it say, "Joe, one of the networks are going to pick this show up." It's that amazing. It's entertaining and at the same time, a lot of these fans that thought they know boxing realize they don't have all of the answers. You're going to call me and say, "Joe, where in the hell do you get these ideas from?" As referees, we get criticized and I tell all of them that we gotta have thick skin in this business. You gotta take the good with the bad and stick with your call and educate the fans and this website is a good way to educate the fans. A lot of the times we get criticized is because the fans don't know the rules.
I still don't know it all. I don't care how good you are, the day you feel you know it all then buddy, you better pack it in. There is always room for improvement. I don't care if you are a writer, commentator, a judge or a referee, there is always room for improvement and you could be better than what you are. Percy, you do great work, but I know you can do better.
PC: I agree and I challenge myself just like I'm sure you challenge yourself every day. You've probably been doing your job longer than I've been alive and if you feel there is room to improve on your end, then I know I can improve.
JC: I've been doing this for 33 years.
PC: Well, I am 29 so there you go.
JC: No one knows it all Percy. I tell my guys all of the time that we are not here to criticize one another, but we are here to learn. When they come into that room, the egos go out of the door and we are here to learn. We are not there to put each other down; we are there to learn as much as we can. When we show a video of a referee that made a mistake, whether it's me or whoever, we are there to learn from that mistake. The thing about making a mistake is not learning from it and repeating it.
PC: I love Freddie Roach, but I'm sure you had to be offended to a degree when he asked for you not to be the official for Pacquiao/Cotto?
JC: I think the world of Freddie and I think he is one of the best trainers out there. I have always liked him as a fighter and a person. The guy is a good man. People are planting seeds in Freddie Roach's head and telling him he better be careful and not to take a chance with me in there because I'm going to favor my own kind. You know what? If you are a judge on a bench in a courtroom, they don't only assign you to cases with people of your same nationality. They don't do that. That is discrimination and in any other sport, that is prohibited. If any athlete in any other sport attacks an official, they get fined or suspended. In boxing, everyone is hesitant and no one puts their foot down. I consider myself a judge on the bench and it could be my brother out there. If he committed a crime, then I'm going to rule against him. I don't care who it is. I don't look at color. I love black, white, HispanicÂ…I love them all. To me, they are all the same. If you want to knock me, that's okay. I can take it and I'm not going to hold it against you. None of that stuff affects my work or my performance. I'm not going to retaliate. I'm going to treat them like I treat everyone else with kindness and I will never retaliate. That's not my style because I've been trained over the years to be strong, mutual and that's how I train other refs to be. You can't talk about fights that are coming up; you cannot give predictions or say whether you prefer a boxer over a slugger and vice versa. I love the sport, but I think like an official and not like a fan and that is the difference. I love Freddie and I've got nothing against the guy, but someone has got to put their foot down and say, "You know what? We assigned the official and that's it. However, if that official screws up and we see that he was favoring that guy, well, now we have a reason to say this guys should not be officiating." That guy's license should be yanked from him if that's the case.
PC: You went through the same thing with Bernard Hopkins, but I don't think you have ever displayed that type of behavior in a fight.
JC: No! And listen, Bernard Hopkins said he didn't want me because he threw down the Puerto Rican flag in Puerto Rico and I was assigned to referee his fight against Trinidad in Madison Square Garden and he got me thrown out of that fight. So they out me on another championship fight on the same card. And then he tried to do the same thing in Las Vegas with the Robert Allen fight, but the Commission stepped up and said, "Wait a minute! We trust our officials; we know who Joe Cortez is." They called me and said he was at the airport ready to leave and I said, "You know what? I know how I think and how I feel and I had nothing against Bernard Hopkins or anybody for that matter for anything they did in pre-fight hype." I'm too much of a professionalism for that and I'm not going to lose my reputation over something that somebody did that has nothing to do with me. It was Puerto Rico, but I don't think that way. When they realized that I wasn't stepping down, he called to speak to me, so I went to the weigh-ins the day before the fight and I walked right into the room after I saw my Commission supporting me and they wasn't telling me to step down. So I went right into the room with Bernard and said, "Champ, how are you doing?" I said, "Bernard, you know what buddy? It's an honor to referee your fights." He tried to apologize right off the bat and I stopped him and told him it was an honor. I never thought I would referee one of his fights. He is one of the greatest middleweights ever. But I told him, "However, I'm going to call the fight the way it is." He started talking about what happened in Puerto Rico and I cut him off again and let him know I don't even think about that. That thought doesn't even cross my mind. I was just there to do my job the best that I can and I assured him that he would see that and see what type of referee I am. I always will be that way. He said he needed to talk to me face to face and eye to eye and said that's what he needed to hear. I told him I will see him in the ring tomorrow night. After the fight, Larry Merchant spoke to him and the last words out of his mouth to Larry Merchant was, "I want to apologize to Joe Cortez. He could referee my fights anytime."
PC: Joe, I appreciate your time buddy. I look forward to seeing you in the ring in some of these mega-fights. Is there anything you want to say in closing?
JC: I just want to say that I have nothing against any boxers out there. I don't discriminate against any nationality out there like I've been accused of for whatever reasons. I love my boxing family out there; anybody in boxing is like a family and we are a very small family and they should respect all of us equally, regardless of what color, race or ethnic group you are. We should all be treated equally. We should stay away from that because we have to make this sport as good as we can make it because boxers have short careers and a short window of opportunity. People should respect the sport the way it should be respected and it starts with us!
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]