Minutes after Vicious Victor Ortiz informed referee Jack Reiss that he did not wish to continue his grueling Los Angeles bout against Josesito Lopez, Top Rank president Todd duBoef got a text message from a key figure in the PPV TV industry. “Mazeltov…problem solved,” read the digitial message to duBoef, meaning that Ortiz’s upset TKO loss, coming after nine rounds of attrition, had cleared a logjam for Mexican Independence Day (Sept. 15) in which Golden Boy would stage Canelo Alvarez-Ortiz at the MGM Grand the same night as TR put on a middleweight crown showdown between Sergio Martinez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. at the Thomas & Mack Center a few miles away. “Yeah, I did it,” Arum said late Saturday night…I did it, I paid the guy (Ortiz) millions of dollars to quit in his fight…no, I’m only kidding…” The head-on collision of PPV attractions and promoters seems solved by Ortiz losing to Lopez, the Riverside fighter who was only a substitute foe after ex-champ Andre Berto came up dirty on a drug test. “I think there’s no issue now,” Arum said. “They can still go with Canelo on the night, maybe against (Carlos) Quintana or (Austin) Trout but that makes no sense. If it’s Trout, he could stink up the joint and even beat Canelo. “People in the (PPV TV) industry had said they only wanted this if Ortiz won this fight. I guess they could go on Showtime or go on a different date with their fight. CBS has a football game that night. “I’d say we’ve got that night alone now.” ([email protected])
