Giuseppe Quartarone, inexperienced at world title level, made a mockery of his position at times by constantly breaking the two fighters as they tried to work.
The Italian has even been accused of ruining what could have been an entertaining fight, whilst some questioned his actions when Joshua was hurt in the mid-rounds.
Quartarone called ‘break’ in the sixth as Joshua was hurt for the first and only time in the contest, giving the heavyweight king extra time to recover.
Without being too critical, Cortez – who looked after some of the biggest fights in recent memory, gave his opinion on Quartarone’s performance.
“Sometimes they put a referee who has good intentions but doesn’t have the experience. [The ref] was a nice guy, he’s been around a little bit, but he’s only done four world championship fights in the past,” Cortez told SiriusXM.
“A fight of this magnitude – with Joseph Parker and Anthony Joshua – you need a referee in there with at least 25 world championship fights under his belt, is good under pressure, doesn’t take sides and be fair but firm like I was.
“They need to take action that the right time. There’s a couple of instances during the fight where he broke them up too early or when the tape/gauze was coming off around the gloves and hanging out and he was just letting it sit there then he would just tuck it inside the glove and it would come out again.
“There was a time where Joshua got a little hurt and he called time and brought him to the corner. Giuseppe is a nice guy but sometimes you gotta look and say ‘Who the hell put him in that position at that time?’ You gotta put someone in there with experience.”
Listen to more from Joe here: https://twitter.com/SiriusXMBoxing/status/980967472248614912
At the Fights airs Mondays and Fridays from 6-8p ET on the first and only nationally-broadcast combat radio channel, SiriusXM RUSH 93, and is hosted by former New York State athletic commissioner Randy Gordon and former #1-ranked Heavyweight contender Gerry Cooney.
