Ringside

Veteran referee Joe Cortez’s involvement in the forthcoming Juan Manuel Marquez v Juan Diaz fight has been thrown into jeopardy as Marquez has rejected the use of the official.

Marquez is quoted as saying that Cortez is “the enemy for Mexican fighters” and the Mexican has been given assurances that Cortez will not feature.

Much of this ill feeling will stem for the disqualification of Humberto Soto against Francisco Lorenzo last year after he adjudged Soto had hit his opponent when he was down. Replays showed this was not the case and this is just one item in a series of questionable decisions from the veteran official.

Indeed, Cortez came in for some scathing criticism for his performance in the Ricky Hatton v Floyd Mayweather bout in that he was too quick to break up the clinches and even threatened to deduct points from both fighters at one stage.

It now appears that Cortez will not be involved in the bout, which will be popular with Mexican fight fans, who may agree with Marquez’s view of the referee’s treatment of Mexican fighters.

I’ll keep you posted!

Tough Colombian Juan Urango won a unanimous decision last night against Herman Ngoudjo to become IBF Junior Welterweight champion.

Urango (21-1-1) had previously lost this version of the title to Ricky Hatton in 2007, but managed to regain the belt in comfortable fashion after knocking down Ngoudjo twice in the third round.

Somewhat confusing is how the 10th round managed to last for five minutes, however this did not affect the outcome as Urango fought for the first time since April 2008 when he was victorious over Carlos Vilches. Had a knock-out occurred during this extra time, the bout would surely have been declared void.

Urango is now undefeated in his last four since his unanimous decision loss to Ricky Hatton in January 2007 and simply had too much for the Canadian Ngoudjo.

Welcome to Ringside.

2009 could be a great year for boxing, so this is my blog which will keep you up to date on what happens and try to give a balanced view of the action as it unfolds.

I’m based in Liverpool, UK, but this blog wont only concentrate on British fighters, and I will try to feature up and coming prospects and boxers to look out for as well as a review of notable fights, fighters and the bouts I’d like to see.

I look forward to hearing any comments you might have on any of my posts, as it would be good to get feedback and hear what everyone else has to say, as this is as much about hearing your views as it is about getting my opinion across.