Joe Cortez


Joe Cortez is an Puerto Rican former boxing referee who has officiated in many important world title bouts. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2011.

Biography

Cortez is of Puerto Rican descent. He had a successful amateur boxing career, winning various Golden Gloves tournaments from 1960 to 1962. In 1963, Joe turned pro at the age of eighteen. He had a record of ten wins and one defeat as a professional boxer, and the loss was to Georgie Foster from Ohio. Unable to secure a world title shot, he retired from boxing after only eleven professional fights. Cortez moved to Puerto Rico in 1969 working at The El Conquistador Hotel and worked his way up to Executive Assistant manager. Living there, he became fluent in Spanish. In 1977, he moved back to New York where he started work as a Casino Operations Manager for the El San Juan Hotel, one of the three properties in Puerto Rico.
Beginning in the 1977, Cortez started working as a referee. During the 1980s, he took on the responsibility to referee some major Championship fights. During this time he was the third man in the ring in several professional Mike Tyson and Roberto Durán fights.
As eminent referees Richard Steele and Mills Lane retired at the dawn of the 21st century, Cortez became one of Nevada and New York's preferred boxing referees for world title fights. He has refereed over 170 world title bouts, among which figure the first Oscar De La Hoya-Julio César Chávez meeting, Evander Holyfield and Riddick Bowe's first title fight and the match that saw 45-year-old George Foreman become the oldest World Heavyweight Champion in history. Asked by Telemundo personnel to give a prediction about the first de la Hoya-Chávez meeting prior to the fight taking place, he simply answered "I can't make any predictions", as referees are not allowed to do that before a fight.
Cortez still refereed major boxing events, and his catchphrase during pre-fight instructions, " fair but firm!" is now a registered trademark. Cortez also gives boxing classes and has a website www.Fairbutfirm.com, which teaches someone how to become a referee and talk show host.
He appears in the film Rocky Balboa as the referee in the exhibition bout between Balboa and the fictional champion Mason "The Line" Dixon played by the professional boxer Antonio Tarver, as well as in I Spy with Eddie Murphy and in Play It To The Bone with Antonio Banderas and Woody Harrelson.
The last "Fight of the Year" that he refereed was Amir Khan vs. Marcos Maidana in 2010. He called it "one of the most outstanding, skillful and exciting" championship fights that he refereed in his career.
Cortez was inducted into the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame in November 1998 and into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2011. He retired from refereeing in September 2012 after Canelo Alvarez vs Josesito Lopez fight, and is currently a boxing analyst for ESPN Sports.
In 2017, Cortez assisted Conor McGregor with his transition to boxing for his super fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Cortez was acting as the referee during Conor's sparring sessions while training for the bout.

Professional boxing record

No.ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes
11Win10–1 Sal LacheppelePTS4/4Feb 28, 1970 San Juan, Puerto Rico
10Win9–1 Durango KidPTS6/6Mar 1, 1966 Sunnyside Garden, Sunnyside, Queens, New York, USA
9Win8–1 Hector RodriguezUD6/6Feb 10, 1966 Exposition Building, Portland, Maine, USA
8Win7–1 Angel RiveraPTS6/6Feb 1, 1966 Sunnyside Garden, Sunnyside, Queens, New York, USA
7Win6–1 Paul SebastianPTS4/4Feb 16, 1965 Civic Auditorium, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
6Win5–1 Kastutomi TakanoPTS4/4Oct 27, 1964 Civic Auditorium, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
5Win4–1 Paul SebastianPTS4/4Oct 13, 1964 Civic Auditorium, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
4Win3–1 Paul SebastianPTS4/4Sep 22, 1964 Honolulu International Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
3Loss2–1 George FosterPTS6/6May 25, 1963 Madison Square Garden, New York, New York, USA
2Win2–0 Bobby HarmonPTS4/4Jan 28, 1963 Civic Center, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
1Win1–0 Bobby HarmonKO2/4Dec 3, 1962 Bakersfield Dome, Bakersfield, California, USAProfessional debut