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Boxer Humberto Soto Says Racist Referee Joe Cortez Cost Him Francisco Lorenzo Fight

Posted Jul 4th 2008 7:33AM by Michael David Smith

On Saturday night, referee Joe Cortez disqualified boxer Humberto Soto for an illegal punch in his WBC super featherweight title fight against Francisco Lorenzo. I and nearly all observers thought it was a bad decision by Cortez, but Soto says it was more than that: According to Soto, it was a racist decision:

In that video, Soto said in Spanish, "I think the ref is a racist. Everyone watching saw me win the fight." Cortez is Puerto Rican, Soto is Mexican and Lorenzo is Dominican.

Cortez completely botched the ending of the fight, which Soto had dominated before Cortez ruled that Soto hit Lorenzo when Lorenzo was down. But suggesting that Cortez was motivated by racism is a hell of an accusation, and Soto provides no evidence. Refs screw up sometimes. That doesn't mean there are ulterior motives.

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