LAS VEGAS – He was the third man in the ring when a then unknown Manny Pacquiao fought his first bout on US soil.
Little did Joe Cortez know that the man who came in as a last-minute opponent for then IBF super bantamweight champion Lehlo Ledwaba would someday become an all-time boxing great.
“When he fought Ledwaba, I told myself ‘this kid had a lot of talent.’ He’s quick. He can box. He can punch,” Cortez recalled about that fateful night on June 23, 2001 at the MGM Grand here.
Pacquiao, who signed on to challenge Ledwaba just two weeks before the fight, battered the South African, knocking him down twice in the sixth round for a technical knockout win. It was a rousing US debut for the Filipino.
Cortez, now retired and working as a boxing analyst for ESPN, is among those impressed.
“I know he came from the Philippines, but I didn’t know they had great fighters like him,” he continued during a chat with a couple of scribes from the Philippines at the sidelines of the Pacquiao-Bradley weigh-in day.
“He reminded me of back when I was fighting in my day,” added Cortez, a Puerto Rican.
“I remember Bob Arum asking me one day, he said ‘Joe, what do you think about this fighter?’ I said ‘you know what, you got a great one here. You got a super champion, he’s gonna be one of the better ones,'” said Cortez, who also went on to work Pacquiao’s fights with Juan Manuel Marquez fight in 2004 and Erik Morales in 2005.
The former referee turned out to be correct, as Pacquiao stormed through weight classes and won eight titles in as many divisions.
On Saturday (Sunday in Manila), Pacquiao sees action for the 26th time in the US, and Cortez will be around to witness what could be the Filipino icon’s final gig.
“It’s a blessing we have somebody like him in boxing because he kind of revived boxing again and got it to the level that it is now,” Cortez said.
