On a night filled with some of boxing biggest young stars in action, Victor Ortiz and Andre Berto took center stage at the MGM Grand in Foxwoods resort and casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut. Sure, Amir Khan and Paul Mccloskey were dueling in England, and Yes Juan Manuel Lopez and Orlando Salido were brawling in Puerto Rico…. So what! Berto and Ortiz are two young stallions putting on the fight of the year in what may still be boxing`s best division for the WBC Welterweight Championship.
Just before the Main event erupted in the MGM Grand Theatre, Amir Khan`s WBA Jr Welterweight title fight with Paul Mccloskey was televised on Big screens throughout the arena. Khan dominated the first five rounds, but a headbutt in the sixth halted the bout. Khan was ahead on all three judges scorecards 60-54, so it was an easy technical decision win for him, another WBA title defense, but disappointing for the boxing public. With that said, Victor Ortiz had also been disappointing in the eyes of the boxing public. Since his loss to Marcos Maidana and lackluster majority draw performance against Lamont Peterson, Ortiz had been cast off by a large part of boxing`s critcs, fans and media.
I spoke with members of the media and some life long fans of the sweet science and kept getting the same answers.
Jeremy Johnston, a Hartford Connecticut resident in attendance, travels all along the Northeast from Boston to Atlantic city to follow some of his favorite pugilists had this to say: I love Berto`s confidence coming into this fight, He has more power than Ortiz and believed Ortiz was afraid to get hit. Johnston predicted Berto by 8 round TKO.
Steve Unger of Lehigh Valley, PA had this to say: Berto has more heart. Ortiz doesn’t have the will to compete with Berto on this level. Unger picked Berto by 7 round KO.
Sound similar? In order to get back in the good graces of the viewing public, He needed to do something special. Tonight was that night.
Right out of the gate Ortiz (29-2-2 22 Ko`s) charged forward like a man possessed and took the fight straight to Berto. There were no jabs, no setting up punches, it was war. Haymaker heaven for us fans, and Ortiz landed what we all thought was a very early knockdown in round one but was immediately ruled a blow to the back of the head which would happen quite frequently throughout the bout. When they resumed, Ortiz again got right in Berto`s kitchen and backed him up landing good power punches, sending Berto down in his own corner. Berto got to his feet for the mandatory 8 count but it would seem he would never recover.
Round 2 began where round one left off, with Ortiz throwing good combinations and backing Berto up. Berto (27-1 21 Ko`s) started to grab Ortiz hoping to slow down the aggressive onslaught but Ortiz fought through landing power shots all round. With about 30 seconds left and his back almost against the ropes again, Berto threw a short straight right hand that wobbled Ortiz enough to score a knockdown after Ortiz` glove touched the canvas. Ortiz wasn`t hurt, he was probably just off balance and now a little embarrassed. One Knockdown for Ortiz, one knockdown for Berto, now we have a fight!
Over the next 3 rounds it was all Victor Ortiz. He constantly pinned Berto against the ropes, throwing hooks and started using the uppercut as well. Ortiz was easily ahead 48-45 on most scorecards and was dominating the WBC Welterweight Champ. Could this be? Victor Ortiz was beating Andre Berto at his own game? Out powering the power puncher?
Then came the round of the year. Andre Berto, with no help from his corner (They were almost as bad as Cotto`s corner in the Cotto-Pacquiao fight) started to amount some offense. Berto used his jab and outboxed Ortiz, beating him to the punch for at least the first half of the round. Berto landed a big right hand and when Ortiz was about to fire back, dropped his left guard and was hammered by another Berto bomb that rocked him and dropped him. Ortiz got up woozy and after the 8 count, didn’t look like he had all his marbles. A good thing to do would have been to hang on, Ortiz did the opposite and kept getting nailed as Berto smelled blood. If the tide had turned in this fight, then it was very short lived because with 5 seconds left in the round, Berto got careless and Victor Ortiz returned the favor by drilling Berto with 2 consecutive left hooks putting him on the canvas yet again. Berto got to his feet, the round ended, Holy Moly we got us a fight!!
The middle rounds saw less action indicating some fatigue on both sides. Berto controlled most of round 7, while round 8 saw Ortiz regain poise and do enough work in the round to take the frame. Rounds 9 and 10 were very close as well. Ortiz seemed to take a breather in round 9 and may have regretted it in the Tenth because Referee Mike Ortega gave Ortiz a 1 point deduction for once again hitting the back of Berto`s head. Throughout these 4 rounds Ortiz went more often to body punches, which may in fact have been what slowed Berto down more and more over the second half of the fight.
10 down, 2 to go. Ortiz had a big offensive outburst in the Eleventh round, strafing Berto against the ropes. Berto actually started backing up and inviting Ortiz in to brawl and Victor obliged. Ortiz ripped him with short power uppercuts and Berto looked to his corner for help. By this point Ortiz` corner between rounds was telling him that he was up by at least 4 or 5 points, but Victor went out for the Twelfth to make sure the WBC belt was going home to Ventura, California.
With thoughts of doubters and critics in his mind throughout the final frame, Victor Ortiz did what only he and his team thought was possible. He won the WBC Welterweight title, Unanimously. 114-111, 114-112 and 115-110 were the judges tally`s. HBO`s Harold Lederman and Myself also scored the bout 115-110 for Ortiz. The loss was the first of Andre Berto`s Pro career, but will surely be only a speed bump in the former champ`s long road ahead of success in the ring.
On My way to the press conference 3 days earlier, I had no rooting interest in this fight. I just wanted to see exactly what we all saw, a great fight. After meeting and speaking with both fighters, I couldn’t help but to root for Ortiz. We all have had rough times in our lives and we all go through hardships, but what he and his siblings endured from a very early age was unreal. Congratulations Victor Ortiz, You proved you are a Champion to the only person that needed the proof. Yourself.
This being My first official fight assignment, I would like to give special thanks for the opportunity of covering this Championship bout. Micheal Hirschbein, Dustin Stein and everyone at the FanvsFan network. Oliver Suarez for having the faith in Me to be a contributor to theboxingoracle.com. Dennis “D Source” Guillermo for the phone conversations and the kind words of encouragement, To all My friends and boxing fans reading, hiking and liking my articles on the website and facebook. Most of all to my wife Lita for her support and patience with another passion (or Obsession) of mine. Thank You all.
Joey Santana can be reached at: theboxingkidd@verizon.net
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