Isaac Brekken/Associated Press
Last year, Joe Cortez became only the seventh referee inducted to the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
LAS VEGAS — As the referee Joe Cortez lifted Saul Alvarez's right hand as the winner of his junior-middleweight title bout against Josesito Lopez, Cortez was surprised to have his other hand hoisted in the air by Oscar De La Hoya, a former champion who is now a promoter. Alvarez then placed the champion's belt around the referee's waist. In front of a capacity crowd here at MGM Grand Garden Arena, De La Hoya leaned toward Cortez and told him, "You're the champion." "It was very touching," Cortez, 69, said. "I will treasure it forever. When do you see a championship fighter say this to a ref?"
With that Sept. 15 fight, Cortez retired after 35 years as a referee.
Cortez's career was built on such one-of-a-kind moments. Last year, he became only the seventh referee inducted to the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He has refereed nearly 200 title fights, a record, according to the boxing historian Herb Goldman. In 1993, Cortez was the third man in the ring before the largest outdoor boxing crowd in history, when 136,274 saw the unbeaten Julio César Chávez beat Greg Haugen at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. He was also the referee in 1994 when George Foreman became the oldest heavyweight champion.
On a recent afternoon, Cortez shared his memories from some of about 3,000 fights he had worked. Answering the door in pressed jeans and a silk shirt, he began with a tour of his rambling house at the northeast edge of the Las Vegas Valley. The gated compound includes a boxing ring, a "wall of fame," and a movie theater. The ring is surrounded by life-size caricatures of championship fighters and a few enlarged photographs of Cortez's short-lived boxing career. He and his brother Mike won national Golden Gloves titles, and Joe Cortez had an 18-1 professional record. One room has a wall lined with glass cases displaying gloves he wore in 1960, a bell signed by Muhammad Ali, and photographs of Cortez with Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. In a pile of photographs yet to be framed, one pictures Mike Tyson folding Cortez into an embrace. The inscription by Tyson says, "I'll always love you."
As Cortez talked in a living room dominated by a pool table, the streets of Spanish Harlem, where he was born in 1943, seemed as if they were right outside the door.
"There was a good restaurant on 106th," he recalled, squinting as if to see it. "They had gangs: the Dragons, the Viceroys, the Enchanters, the Red Wings — they were the Italians, up on 111th. We had to walk through their territory to get to the Boys Club gym. They used to look at my brother and I; we had gloves hanging on the outside of our bags, so they wouldn't mess with us."
When he was about 12, Cortez met Gaspar Ortega, then a pro boxer from Mexico. Ortega, known as El Indio, was only eight years older, but he quickly became a father figure to Cortez, who was raised with his three brothers by a single mother.
"He was clean-cut, a good role model," Cortez said. Before he and his brother Mike met Ortega, "We were jumping across alleys, from one roof to another."
Ortega, now 76, recalled Cortez as "always running behind me, wherever I went."
Although Cortez is of Puerto Rican descent, he became Ortega's interpreter. After victories, he would accompany Ortega and his manager to their hotel room. He watched them divide the prize money; the manager would toss $5 to Cortez. This was his introduction to boxing as a career. Although Cortez went on to win six Golden Gloves tournaments, and quickly strung together 19 pro fights, he also married young.
At 23, he started thinking about working to support his family. He got a job as an exterminator. Soon he started an exterminating business. One day, a customer offered to buy it. The customer paid $6,000 in cash.
"I came home, opened the door, my wife, Sylvia, was on the floor with two of my daughters, Cindy and Sandy, who were then infants," Cortez said. "I threw the brown bag of money in the air and said, 'Let's go to Puerto Rico.' "
Cortez and his family lived there for eight years. He worked at El Conquistador hotel, rising quickly from desk clerk to assistant manager. At the hotel, Pat Mascia, who had refereed some of Cortez's Golden Gloves bouts, recognized him. Mascia encouraged Cortez to consider refereeing. After Cortez was promoted to executive manager and was sent to work in New York, he called Mascia in 1976.
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