Ringside Boxing Show - Guest Joe Cortez

Joe Cortez: The fights of our lives, from 3 feet away

As kids, walking home through the vicious, gang-infested streets of Spanish Harlem, Joe Cortez and his brother, Mike, would dangle their boxing gloves outside their gym bags. The result, he says, is that nobody messed with them, even though Cortez won his first Golden Gloves titles as a flyweight.

The Hall of Fame referee joined us for his second appearance on The Ringside Boxing Show to tell Easter Sunday stories about the biggest fights of multiple eras -- Whitaker-Chavez, Holyfield-Bowe, Mosley-De La Hoya, Duran-Barkley, Barrera-Hamed -- all of which he officiated.

This is a sensational stroll through a big piece of boxing history, with Cortez as guide, telling you how it all looked from three feet away.

Our Joe Cortez interview is preceded by a thorough unpacking of the Ward-Barrera and JoJo Diaz-Jayson Velez fights, and a look at what lies ahead for the winners, by John J. Raspanti, Travis Hartman and Rizwaan Zahid.