In all the years of watching boxing, I have never witnessed a more outrageous ruling than the one administered by referee Joe Cortez during last Saturday's Humberto Soto vs. Francisco Lorenzo fight for the interim WBC super featherweight title. It was not only one of the most shameful displays of refereeing, but also one of the most scandalous results that I've ever seen in my thirty years of covering the "Sweet Science."
The match took place on the undercard of the WBC lightweight title fight between David Diaz and Manny Pacquiao. When Pacquiao won via 9th round TKO, the Soto-Lopez winner was supposed to fill his vacancy in the super featherweight division, but because of the despicable result of the bout, it created more anger and venom in the boxing world than anyone could have anticipated.
Throughout the course of the fight, Soto dominated the game, but outclassed Lorenzo, constantly beating him to the punch and opening up severe wounds to Francisco's face. It appeared to everyone watching that the end to the fight would be a mere formality. No one could have ever imagined the events that were to follow.
Late in the 4th round, Soto drop Lorenzo to the canvas. He barely beat the count, looking reluctant to continue. As Soto moved in to finish Lorenzo, who was bleeding from both his eyes and nose, Joe Cortez, who's trademark line of "I'm fair, but I'm firm" which should now be changed "I'm old and I'm incompetent," moved in and separated the fighters, appearing as though he was going to stop the fight, but instead seemingly changed his mind, giving no verbal command and allowing the action to continue. Moments later, Cortez once again separated the fighters as if he was going to stop the fight, but again he let the bout continue. Finally, helpless Lorenzo, who was taking a great deal of punishment along the ropes, was drilled to the floor by a devastating uppercut. As Lorenzo dropped to his knees in a crouched position, Soto, who had just fired off a number of punches in rapid succession, just grazed the top of Lorenzo's head, but quickly and correctly moved away thinking the fight was finally over when he realized Lorenzo was down for the count.
Unbeknownst to Soto and everyone else watching the fight, Joe Cortez saw it differently, calling time as he claimed that Soto had just fouled Lorenzo for a grazing punch to the back of the head. Meanwhile, Lorenzo, was pointing to the back of his head repeatedly, going from a stretched out to a sitting position on the canvas with blood pouring all over the place. Unsure of how to proceed, Cortez, who was adamant that Soto had intentionally fouled Lorenzo, spent about 5-10 minutes consulting with Keith Kizer, executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, the attending physician as well as WBC representatives. Due to the injuries that Lorenzo sustained in the fight, the attending physician determined that he could not continueÂ…not because of the cuts he sustained and the blood streaming all over his face, but because of the grazing shot to the back of the head which apparently gave Lorenzo a concussion. Among the jeers and boos of the fans in attendance, Humberto Soto was disqualified.
Upon further examination of the slow-motion instant replays provided by HBO, in my opinion, there's no way the glancing blow by Soto warranted a disqualification! The punch in question looked more like a "love tap" that, at worst, grazed the top of Soto's head and barely connected at all. The indecision and ultimate disqualification issued by Cortez was disgusting and reprehensible. Almost worse than that was Francisco Lorenzo's post-fight antics after learning that Soto had been disqualified. He jumped up in jubilation, raising his arms in the air as though he had accomplished a satisfying victory. Such a change in body language from a man who appeared so distraught moments earlier suggests that hee was exaggerating his "critical" injuries and was able to, by pointing to the back of his head with blood pouring down his face, convince a confused Cortez and the rest of the boxing commission that Soto should be disqualified. The rest of the world, however, felt differently and the officiating of this match is a perfect example of why boxing fans are dwindling.
It would have been interesting to see how Joe Cortez, the doctor and the rest of the commission would have reacted had Lorenzo not been cut up, bloody and pointing to the back of his head. Certainly the blood on his face and the battering he took leading up to the stoppage helped Lorenzo pull off his "heist." Every boxing commission and sanctioning body throughout the world needs to see a tape of this fight and show it to their officials so that they know not to fall for the same act. They also need to be able to differentiate between a tap on the head in a heated exchange of rapid punches. The shot to Lorenzo's head was so insignificant that it should not have been penalized (although some are suggesting that perhaps Cortez could have taken 1 point from Soto) and it certainly should have had nothing to do with the outcome of the fight.
We have seen countless cases where a fighter will throw one last punch in the heat of battle moments before the KO. A late punch foul should only be counted as a late punch if it makes obvious, overt and intentional contact to the downed fighter. What's bad is that even after seeing the instant replay, which may not have helped in this case, Cortez stuck with his original call. Boxing cannot accept his call. His indecisiveness, not once but twice, in changing his mind on whether or not to stop the fight suggests ineptness. His decision to disqualify a clean and honest fighter in Humberto Soto for a mere grazing shot suggests corruption. Referees MUST differentiate between punches in the heat of battle verses shots with malicious intent. You cannot DQ a fighter on "intent" if a shot does not land or if it's in the heat of battle. You certainly don't DQ a guy after you think twice about stopping the fight 20 seconds ago and then reverse your decision twice after breaking the fighters with no call or reason for your actions.
Thankfully, the WBC has chosen NOT to award Lorenzo for his con job. The belt will remain vacant until the result of a mandated rematch occurs. Joe Cortez is getting too old and indecisive in his actions as a referee. He needs to retire! If Joe Cortez had properly stopped the fight shortly after the first knockdown, justice would have prevailed with Soto winning by TKO. The actions of Joe Cortez in this match should send a thundering message to boxing jurisdictions of exactly what NOT to do.