By Ricardo Lois

From his poor opening instructions to the calling of a hasty halt to the fight referee, Ismael Quiñonez delivered a performance which should keep him out of high profile bouts in Puerto Rico for years to come.

Before getting to the matter at hand, let me make on point clear. Even if DeMarcus Corley raised himself from bended knee, the probability of Chop Chop defeating Miguel Cotto was slim.

Historically Puerto Rican referees, judges, and ringside doctors have been fair and an impartial in their treatment of visiting fighters. La isla del encanto was one host country where road warriors could expect a fair shake against a hometown hero.

The winds of change might have blown through Puerto Rico in recent months.

Aside from Quiñonez’s horrendous job, last September a bout between Antonio Margarito and Boricua Daniel Santos was halted after the tenth round due to a cut suffered by Margarito in the fifth round. There was much speculation regarding the stoppage, as the Mexican Margarito was bringing on his offensive barrage at the time of the stoppage.

What a shame it would be if Puerto Rican boxing officials tainted their country's image in regards to square judgements and rulings.

All the post fight speculation and analysis centered on Cotto’s opening offensive display is much a do about nothing. My bet would be that a majority of boxers’ boldness would swell in the presence of a chanting hometown crowd and facing an opponent they out weigh by seventeen pounds.

What we saw in Saturday night was just a bully, a junior middleweight beating on a junior welterweight, a fighter drying himself out to take a physical advantage over a smaller weight.

Even with a seventeen-pound weight advantage, Cotto once again displayed his most glaring shortcoming, a propensity for eating up right hands.

It is one thing for Lovemore N’Dou, Victorino Sosa, and DeMarcus Corley to plaster Cotto with right hand leads. I wonder, what might happen if Kostya Tsyu or Vivian Harris tattoos the rising Puerto Rican star with a right hand bomb? Unlike Corley, Tsyu or Harris would finish the job on a wobbly-legged young buck feeling the effects of a blinding shot.

An uncommonly reckless an aggressive Miguel Cotto found himself on the long end of a poor officiating job by fellow Puerto Rican Ismael Quiñonez on Saturday night. In the midst of the fifth round the bout was stopped when the Washington D.C. gladiator DeMarcus Corley seemingly took a knee in an attempt to avoid Cotto’s onslaught.