Famed Boxing Referee Joe Cortez Shares Memories of Being in Rocky Balboa, at the Seventh Annual Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame Honoree Dinner
Recently, we shared with you our report from the seventh annual Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame Honoree Dinner, along with our CYInterview with “The Voice of Boxing,” Al Bernstein [see here].
Back in June, we had a chance to CYInterview Hall of Fame boxing referee Joe Cortez at the new home of the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame [see here], at HeadzUP at The Boulevard Mall in Las Vegas.
At the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame Ceremony recently, we had a chance to again speak with Joe Cortez. See our photo above. He gave us an update on how the new home of the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame is working out, his thoughts on the evening’s ceremony and gave us insight into what it was like to be in the movie Rocky Balboa, with Sylvester Stallone.
In the film, Joe referred the fight between Rocky Balboa and Mason “The Line” Dixon. Speaking about being in the movie, he told us this:
“Being the referee for the Rocky Balboa movie was an honor. It was a great movie and Sylvester Stallone, you know, he picked me out of so many referees out there. He chose me as the referee for the movie. It was an honor, a great six days of filming for the boxing segment and I was happy to be part of it and help them out to get real boxing officials in the movie, which Sylvester asked me to help him with that. I was able to get him 23 individuals in the movie that really were real. He told me, ‘Joe, I want the movie to look authentic.’ So, I got him all the officials to make it look authentic and one of the best fight scenes in all the Rocky movies.”
We shared with you earlier this year that Joe’s referee shirt from Rocky Balboa is on display at the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame [see here]. Additionally, back in 2006, we spoke with boxer Antonio Tarver about playing Mason “The Line” Dixon in Rocky Balboa [see here].
You can listen to the entire CYInterview with Joe Cortez below:
Listen to the entire Joe Cortez CYInterview:
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Find Joe Cortez on Twitter clicking here.
You can find more information out about the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame clicking here and at www.headzupvegas.com.