Victor Ortiz is a good-looking, soft-spoken kid with a dazzling smile, a compelling personal story and other worldly boxing skills.
And, if you ask me, he?s also completely divorced from reality.
Ortiz will challenge Andre Berto for the World Boxing Council welterweight title on HBO on Saturday at the MGM Grand Theater in Ledyard, Conn., in an under-the-radar bout that has a chance to be outstanding.
But if history is a guide, Berto will turn up the heat on Ortiz, who will then wilt like a hibiscus left with no water in the searing Las Vegas sun.
Ortiz, remember, is the guy who essentially quit during the sixth round of a June 27, 2009, super lightweight fight with Marcos Maidana in Los Angeles. After the bout, Ortiz revealed a lot about himself as a fighter when he said ?I?m young, but I don?t think I deserve to be getting beaten up like this. I have a lot of thinking to do.?
Anyone who climbs into the ring deserves a healthy dose of respect, because it is an extraordinarily difficult thing to do. Nobody, though, forced Victor Ortiz to decide to pursue a career as a professional boxer. He was one of boxing?s hot prospects and he was eager to accept the glory during his rise, as he was fed a collection of stiffs that he eagerly beat up on who didn?t have a quarter of his natural talent.
But when he was put in with someone who, you know, would actually fight back, Ortiz told you all you need to know about him as a boxer. He bailed, proving to be as phony as a $3 bill. Maidana isn?t a particularly skilled boxer, but man after man who has been in the ring with him say his punches are like being kicked by a mule.
That loss, and its aftermath, despite how bad it looked on national television, didn?t have to define Ortiz forever. He clearly didn?t know enough about the guy he was facing that night and he employed a horrendous strategy. Ortiz chose to stand toe-to-toe and swap blows with a guy who was not only the division?s hardest puncher, but whose only chance to win was to turn the contest into a slugfest.
Ortiz was a 22-year-old kid in his first major test and he blew it. He probably would have won had he chosen to use his boxing skills, which he undoubtedly realized once the fight was over.
He got emotional when he was interviewed by HBO?s Max Kellerman in the ring in front of a live crowd, which basically had come out to cheer for him, as well as in front of a national television audience that had tuned in to find out what all the hype was about.
He made an unfortunate comment that he probably wished he could have back.
Had he gone out and been honest and beaten whoever was put in front of him, he wouldn?t keep getting reminded of his words after his loss to Maidana. But not long after that day, he began to talk crazy.
He began to insist that Maidana was ducking him and tried to rewrite history. On a conference call last week, Ortiz not only repeated his ridiculous allegation that Maidana was ducking him, but he justified leaving the super lightweight division for the welterweights by saying that no one at 140 would fight him.
?When everybody runs from you at 140, you go up to 147, and I shot for the top of the line, Andre Berto,? Ortiz said.
It probably comes as news to Amir Khan, Zab Judah, Timothy Bradley, Devon Alexander, Erik Morales and Lucas Matthyse, among others, that they were ducking Ortiz.
Ortiz?s promoter, Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions, conceded that there were no talks for an Ortiz fight with any of those guys.
?We matched him appropriately with the fights we thought were the right fights at the time (following the loss to Maidana),? Schaefer said.
Since losing to Maidana, Ortiz has fought five times, facing three way over-the-hill, totally shot veterans (Antonio Diaz, Nate Campbell and Vivian Harris), one guy who was never any good in the first place (Hector Alatorre) and, most recently, Lamont Peterson, a good but not great opponent.
He defeated the first four and drew with Peterson and hasn?t struck fear into the hearts of anyone recently.
Yet, he blasted Maidana, who got off the canvas three times in their 2009 fight to win, for not agreeing to a rematch.
?He?s running left and right, dodging me,? Ortiz said. ?He sees me in his nightmares. When he gets the courage and comes out of the closet, he can meet me at 147.?
The one thing that Maidana does not lack is courage. It?s laughable that Ortiz, the guy that Maidana made quit, would have the unmitigated gall to make such an outrageous statement.
Be very certain that Ortiz won?t have to worry about Berto?s courage. Berto has plenty of questions of his own to answer, but having courage isn?t one of them. He?s 27-0 with 24 knockouts and won?t be hard for Ortiz to find on Saturday. He, too, is fast. He, too, is powerful. But unlike Ortiz, Berto hasn?t waved the white flag during one of his fights yet.
He found Ortiz? brash talk amusing, particularly considering Ortiz? history.
?The last 27 opponents (I faced) were guys who were going to knock me out, take me into deep water and drown me, (saying) I was too young, I make mistakes,? Berto said. ?Maybe Victor Ortiz took a class that tricks you into thinking something else. If he does, fine; it?ll be a better fight but shorter fight.
?It?s the name of the game. I love it. Victor Ortiz can say what he wants. The macho Mexican thing, or his team hyping him up. (On Saturday), he knows he?ll be in with the truth. Once I beat him he?ll see his friends disappear. A lot of kids have to go through that.?
The truth is that Ortiz is without question talented enough to defeat Berto and win the title. The issue is whether he has the constitution to withstand the tough times he?ll inevitably face along the way and fight his way through it.
His brash pre-fight talk is almost as if he?s whistling past the graveyard. It?s likely that he?s talking big to hide even bigger self-doubts.
Whatever it is, Ortiz?s new persona doesn?t fit well. It?s about time he did something to change it.
