It all seemed so perfect for Victor Ortiz, Golden Boy Promotions and HBO. Needing a nascent young superstar to carry them into the future, it looked like after two explosive rounds they had found their man. The 22-year old Ortiz, who came with the requisite looks, background story and entertaining style, had floored Argentinian Marcos Maidana three times in the first two frames – while suffering a knockdown of his own in the first.
He was on his way.
As you looked out into the audience at the Staples Center (announced at just over 8,600) you could just feel it. The crowd was on its feet and energized. This was exactly the type of launching pad befitting the game?s newest superstar. The west coast – and the business of boxing overall – was looking for its next Oscar De La Hoya and/or Fernando Vargas, a fighter with the charisma and intangibles to which a franchise could be built around. The Golden Boy brass – of which a few of its partners have tasted boxing immortality – were brimming with giddiness and the anticipation of a bright future, one that had packed arenas and lucrative pay-per-view promotions on the horizon. Sponsors would be lining up so fast that you imagined that his trunks would soon have the look of a NASCAR vehicle.
Just a few months ago, across the street from the building that housed Ortiz-Maidana, De La Hoya – whose silhouette is the promotional firm?s logo – announced his retirement in typically grand style. Now, sitting in the front row alongside his CEO Richard Schaefer and former rival-turned-partner, Shane Mosley, it seemed as though the baton would be passed on the night of June 27th, 2009.
But the young man who migrated west from Garden City, Kansas, and had a fleet of MTV cameras following his every move the past few weeks leading into this fight, found out that there is no reality show quite like the game of boxing. Because the gritty, gutty Maidana apparently didn’t follow the script that had pegged him as mere cannon fodder on Ortiz’s path to Canastota.
And less than 15 minutes after his blazing start, Ortiz would go down in flames under the heavy duress of the hard-punching Maidana, who simply never backed down or away under the offensive assault of Ortiz. It was stunning just how quickly this fight turned. Ortiz, on the strength of those early knockdowns, had built up a commanding lead on the scorecards and he seemed to hurt Maidana again at the very conclusion of the fourth.
But while Ortiz showed that he might have a more diverse and explosive offensive attack, he also showed that he has many more technical flaws. Time and time again, he failed to move to his right and his lead foot was on the inside of Maidana’s – cardinal sins for southpaws facing right-handers. And because of this flawed alignment he was hit repeatedly with booming right hands of both the lead and counter variety.
At the end of the fifth, he was hurt noticeably by a series of right-crosses from Maidana. The look on Ortiz’s face said it all – the fight had turned. Don’t cry for me Argentina because it was Ortiz who was now in trouble. Ortiz was unresponsive to the pleading of his trainer, Danny Garcia, and his body language suggested that even he knew just what a predicament he was in as he slumped in his corner before the sixth and ultimately final round of this battle.
It seemed as though Ortiz tried to touch gloves with Maidana to begin that round, but not being a sparring session, Maidana instead opted to shoot a right hand (what else?) over the top and it would land squarely on Ortiz’s right eye, causing it to swell almost immediately. It visibly damaged Ortiz and from that moment, this exciting back-and-forth slugfest was now a foregone conclusion. Soon he hit the canvas under a barrage of Maidana punches, no longer the game?s brightest star, but perhaps, just another young fighter thrown into the fire simply too quickly.
No amount of marketing or promoting could rescue him here and unlike ‘The Hills’ or many other ‘reality’ shows, there are no do-overs or second takes in this realm.
Ortiz took the mandatory eight-count from referee Raul Caiz and gestured to him to call off the fight. Yes, he basically ‘no mas’d’ the contest, and when the ringside doctor was called up curiously (how often does that take place after a clean knockdown?) there was no choice but to wave off the fight, since Ortiz had made it clear he had punched out for the night.
The crowd was in a state of shock. They came to see a coronation; instead they saw a beheading of their young prince. Maidana was no court-jester. The looks of the Golden Boy brass – including Mosley, who seemed to give Ortiz a good talking to inside the ring just minutes after the bout – was one of forlorn disbelief. First Oscar, then Hatton and now this. At least this time around they can’t blame Manny Pacquiao.
Ortiz was so close to attaining the stature that had almost seemed pre-ordained for him. Now, he’s just another young fighter looking to rebound from his first real professional setback.
PICKING UP THE PIECES
As Ortiz crumbled in front of our eyes, almost everyone was left saying,” Now what?” Here are a few of my thoughts…
– There had been more than a few rumblings around boxing circles in Oxnard that Ortiz was lacking a real sturdy chin and was a bit of a frontrunner. While some had brushed that off as sour grapes from those who had been involved in his career in the past but had been displaced, it’s really hard to argue with them now. Yes, Maidana is a solid puncher, and granted he took a multitude of shots from him, but it’s not as if he hadn’t hit the canvas before. He had hit the deck against the likes of Tomas Barrientes and Dairo Esalas.
Knockdowns are a part of the game and many fighters take trips to the canvas early on (De La Hoya being a great example) and then prove later on that they have strong beards. But the way Ortiz reacts to certain punches just makes you wonder. Save for perhaps Tommy Hearns, to be a great fighter you have to have the capacity to catch as well as you pitch.
I’m pretty sure Ortiz doesn’t fit that category.
– About 10-15 minutes after the fight, as I made my way across the ring to talk to Freddie Roach, he was having a discussion with Schaefer, ringside. You don’t have to be a member of MENSA to get an idea of what they were talking about – Roach becoming the new trainer for Ortiz. I was asked by a few fans and boxing figures what I thought of the proceedings. My answer was simple: “Great fight, but Ortiz needs a new trainer.”
Simply put, Danny Garcia is, at best, the third or fourth best trainer in his own family.
It spoke volumes on just how many clean rights Ortiz got caught with. It was a further indictment, not just on Garcia but perhaps the fighter himself (who has to have an instinctive feel for the way things are playing out) that after the early fireworks, that they couldn’t figure out that for at least a few rounds they should have been pumping that jab and boxing from the perimeter. Instead, Ortiz, for all his offensive success, was giving Maidana opportunities to stay in the fight.
– I know some will now write off Ortiz. But just remember this, he’s still just 22 and for all his flaws, well, the flaws are what make fighters and fights fun to watch. Nobody really likes to watch perfection or guys who are just safety-first, defensive minded specialists. Seriously, what would you rather pay for: Ortiz in any fight or Yuri Boreman?
That’s what I thought.
At the very least, Ortiz will always be fun and entertaining.
EL FEROZ
A familiar figure was at the Staples Center this weekend, Fernando Vargas (and did you ever think he would buy a ticket or attend an event promoted by De La Hoya?) and as usual he was mobbed by the partisans. I’ve always found his connection with his fans quite remarkable. And now, even as he has settled into a content life of retirement, where he will be promoting fights instead of participating in them, he is still a hugely popular figure.
I think what transpired on Saturday night was another example of why. Because in stark contrast to the way Ortiz decided to bow out, Vargas truly was a warrior that believed in going out on his shield. Who can forget his almost irrational courage he displayed versus Felix Trinidad or how the faded versions of ‘El Feroz’ fought on against the likes of Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley.
He did things that went against the grain of human nature in many ways to his own detriment and at the cost of his own health. No, it’s not that we as boxing fans and media expect that (to the contrary) but it’s the fact he did so that makes him so endearing to his followers.
As for Ortiz, he is now being branded with boxing’s version of the scarlet letter, the Q-word. There’s no denying that Ortiz wanted out and he certainly said a few eyebrow raising things in his interview with Max Kellerman of HBO, but to be fair, it’s not as if he didn’t take more than just a few blows (including a number of rabbit punches). And let’s be honest, how many of us out there, who watched this fight from the safe and cozy confines outside the ring would even muster up the courage to do what Ortiz did for the first five rounds?
But the ones we remember find their way through rough moments like this and carry on. That might be the bigger point here. To be a superstar or a fighter with an uncommon place in the hearts of fight fans, you have to be willing to do special things.
Which is exactly why Vargas – love him or hate him – will never be forgotten.
REHAB
Everyone brings up Roberto Duran as someone who overcame the stigma of an unfortunate ending, as someone who was able to rehabilitate his career. But Duran was already considered a Hall-of-Fame fighter before he faced Sugar Ray Leonard in New Orleans. Also, he walked away from his fight out of pure frustration not because of any unwillingness to walk through fire. To the contrary, Duran would have preferred a physically taxing fight than the one Leonard was employing during their rematch.
Perhaps a more recent example is more appropriate, that of one Israel Vazquez, who not too long ago was being tarred and feathered by the masses after he called it a day in his first encounter with Rafael Marquez because of blocked passages in his nose made it nearly impossible for him to breathe effectively. He was labeled a quitter, and worse, someone who lacked bravery. Well, as you fast-forward after two life-and-death performances with Marquez, he is now a symbol of valor and stoutheartedness.
And the thing about quitting is this – and some may completely disagree with this – sometimes it’s the correct thing to do. There’s nothing wrong to live and to fight another day in many instances. Because for all the deserved glory that is steeped in Vargas’ performance versus Trinidad, it’s also the wide spread belief that those last few knockdowns irrevocably changed the course of his career.
You just never know how these things turn out. Ortiz certainly has enough time to rewrite his own history.
FINAL FLURRIES
On that undercard at the Staples, Craig McEwan defeated Darnell Boone over eight. And lightweight prospect Adrian Broner stopped Willie Kickett in six….I love that name: Willie Kickett? No he can’t!!!….First, Ed McMahon, then Farrah, then Michael, now Billy Mays!?1?…..I think the U.S. soccer team needs a good closer. Is Kobe Bryant available?….Serious question: for those of you who weren’t going to Mayweather-Marquez in July, will you now choose to attend on September 19th?…..
