Ortiz vs. Lopez Aftermath: What Now?

Last Saturday night, in the wake of Manny Pacquiao's controversial loss, another big boxing upset occurred, this time without controversy.  Welterweight contender Victor Ortiz lost by way of TKO to the little known Josesito Lopez.  Ortiz quit on the stool before round 10, complaining of a broken jaw.

The fight was great; we saw back and forth action every round.  The upset was reminiscent of Victor Ortiz's own upset victory against Andre Berto a year and change ago.  Coincidentally, Lopez was a last minute replacement for Berto in this fight, after Berto got caught with banned substances in his blood.  More on that in a later post.

Ortiz's loss has many possible implications.  Firstly, the proposed showdown against Mexican star Saul "Canelo" Alvarez in September is off.  Secondly, Ortiz may have permanently removed himself from the top list of Welterweight contenders.  Needless to say, his desired rematch against Floyd Mayweather will almost surely never happen.

It should be interesting to see what happens to the players involved in the coming months.

Here are some highlights from the Showtime card.

-JD

It's Official: Ortiz vs. Mayweather in September

This September Floyd Mayweather Jr. will be returning to the ring after a 16-month hiatus to take on the WBC Welterweight champ Victor Ortiz.

Rumors of this match up have been circulating since Ortiz upset Andre Berto in April, a fight that Mayweather attended.

I shared my thoughts on this fight in an earlier post responding to the rumors.  To reiterate, I approve greatly.  Normally Mayweather picks opponents with a weakness he knows he can exploit.  In this case, we have a southpaw slugger, not a style that Mayweather usually faces.

Floyd's much faster than Ortiz, but Ortiz is relentless, and will stalk Mayweather until he lands.  At that time the question will be whether or not Floyd can take Ortiz's hard punches.

I'll share my keys to victory and prediction as we get closer to September 17.  Get excited.

-JD

Rumor has it: Mayweather vs. Ortiz

As we prepare for the Pacquiao-Mosley fight tonight, it is worth noticing the buzz about Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s comeback.

Berto vs. Ortiz Reflections

I wanted to first acknowledge that my predictions have been awful since I began this dang blog.  Maidana took the decision over Morales; Guerrera decisively won against Katsidis; Khan's evening ended after 6 rounds; and Victor Ortiz, new Welterweight champion, beat up Andre Berto in a big upset.  Hopefully my predictions get better so you readers can trust my word a little more.

But never mind that; let's talk about Berto-Ortiz.  What a fight.  Ortiz shows up "possessed," as Jim Lampley and Larry merchant both mention.  Berto gets stunned in the first round by Ortiz's power and hits the canvas twice.  Still wobbly in the second round, he sends Ortiz off balance and scores a knockdown (I did predict that both would get knocked down!).  Ortiz makes his way back ahead in the next few rounds, landing serious bombs as he pins Berto against the ropes.  Round 6 sees a somewhat recomposed Andre Berto scoring significantly against Ortiz, dropping him within the last minute of the round.  Ortiz gets up, and, facing a storm of power shots as Berto tries to end the fight, lands a hook that in turn reacquaints Berto with the canvas.  He lost that round, but in that turn of events he won the fight.  For the rest of the fight Berto tries tying up with Ortiz to avoid taking anymore big shots, but as a result loses many of those later rounds.  Ortiz takes the unanimous decision win.

Ortiz's win was all the more impressive being that he was up against both Andre Berto and all the naysayers.  His move up to welterweight seemed like a complete whim, and very few understood why he would do that.  But he was sure that the move was right for him, and he succeeded--he out-worked and out-matched his opponent, left it all in the ring, and proved us wrong.  That never should have happened.

Boxing fans have every reason to be stoked about this.  We now have some serious commotion in the welterweight division.  Victor Ortiz is all of a sudden one of the belt-holders in the division (let alone a member of the division), and Berto is still a dangerous contender in the division (and he's been claiming that the guy who fought Ortiz last night was not him).  There will probably be a rematch, meaning these two alone already guarantee more drama to come.  And don't forget about the other welterweights, a couple of whom also took note of last night's showing.  None-Other-Than Floyd Mayweather was in the crowd watching that fight, laughing off the boos he received when he showed up on the big screen.  And after the fight Ortiz received a congratulatory phone call from None-Other-Than Manny Pacquiao.

Might we have the next Leonard-Hearns-Hagler-Duran 4-way rivalry?  Maybe I'm just ambitious....
 

I am still in shock about this upset.  I can't wait for more welterweight action.
-JD

Berto vs. Ortiz

On Saturday, April 16 "Vicious" Victor Ortiz takes on WBC Welterweight Champion Andre Berto.  This should be a great fight.  Let's break it down.

Ortiz (28-2-2) is a southpaw heavy hitter with impeccable precision.  Basically, knockdowns are sure to happen when this kid's in the ring (c.f. his HBO highlight reel below; this is great stuff!).  He hasn't quite gotten the attention he deserves, in all honesty.  He put Maidana on his trunks three times, and Maidana is considered one of the best of the 142 lb division right now.  (Ortiz lost that fight because of a cut!  And, while I'm under parenthetical cover, the majority draw against Lamont Peterson was complete garbage.  He won that fight and won it big.)  Regardless, he'll provide fierce competition for anyone, and I mean anyone, who gets in the ring with him.

WBC Champion Andre Berto (27-0-0) is also a power puncher, but with more speed and an orthodox stance.  He's gotten some heat over the past few years for his frequent holding, but don't kid yourself, this guy is exciting.  Though his tie-ups can get agitating to watch at times, he almost always makes up for them later by landing bombs.  His conquest of Carlos Quintana last year tells you all you need to know.  Those right hands at the end are the best rights since Mike Tyson was in the game...watch the highlights.
He's a fiend--a very skilled fiend.

So it looks like we're going to have a real fight on April 16th.  And this one carries some weight, too.  It'll be huge for Ortiz if he wins, KO or decision, because he's the one who came up to 147 from 142, he has the blemishes on his record, and he is the challenger.  Berto will benefit from this fight really only if he knocks Ortiz out, and sooner rather than later.

JD's Prediction: I don't want to call it a slug-fest; Ortiz would love one but Berto won't let that happen.  And it won't be a chess match because both are just too aggressive.  It'll be a high-intensity, high-drama seesaw battle with both men seeing the canvas.  But Berto will stop Ortiz in the 7th.

-JD