Victor Ortiz was stopped in the sixth round by Marcos Maidana in a brutal fight in June 2009 at Staples Center.
Ortiz has gone 4-0-1 with three knockouts since then.
But Andre Berto still has a question about Ortiz’s courage because of his body language at the time of the TKO loss to Maidana, which officially was stopped because of a cut over Ortiz’s right eye and a black and blue lump under his left eye.
Berto, like some experts, isn’t so sure Ortiz wanted to continue in that fight. Some have gone so far as to suggest Ortiz quit because after he hit the canvas for the second time in the fight in the sixth round, it appeared he perhaps wasn’t so sure he wanted to go on.
Referee Raul Caiz made the decision to stop the fight on the advice of the ringside physician.
“What showed in the Maidana fight, maybe he feels like he has a lot more to prove and he’s willing to die to prove it,” said Berto, who will defend his welterweight world title against Ortiz tonight at Foxwoods in Mashantucket, Conn. (HBO). “I have a heart of a lion … where it comes from, how I’m built.
“There’s no question about my heart. I have to question his on everything from one situation. When he had to endure controversy, he didn’t like to crack back. At the end of the day, you can’t teach what beats in the chest.
“You either have it – heart – or you don’t.”
Ortiz didn’t help himself with his immediate postfight quotes in the ring, where he said he is young and doesn’t “deserve to get hit like that.” To some, that sounded like he wanted out of the fight.
To Ortiz’s credit, he has done and said all the right things since that fiasco.
He certainly didn’t become a shrinking violet amid the criticism. He’s now talking in brash tones about Maidana and Berto.
“He’s running left and right dodging me,” Ortiz said of Maidana during a recent conference call. “He sees me in his nightmares. When he gets the courage and comes out of the closet, we can meet me at 147.”
Ortiz (28-2, 22 KOs) also said he “had just one slip-up against Maidana,” with whom he tangled at 140. “That’s the difference between then and now. If Maidana wants to end his career, he should move up to 147.”
Ortiz gave Berto equal time.
