MASHANTUCKET, Connecticut–If boxing comes up with a better feel good story this year, something better than the ring redemption by supposed “quitter” Victor Ortiz here Saturday night as he snorted and slashed his way to an upset victory over unbeaten Andre Berto, we should all be impressed.
It would have to involve Santa Claus and some comely kittens.
Ortiz, who won a unanimous decision in a bout in which many thought he would never make it through to the final bell, even got a fight day pep talk from Manny Pacquiao who got Ortiz’s phone number from their mutual friend, the Pacman sparmate David Rodela.
“Manny told me I was stronger and faster. And he told me to stick to my game plan. I appreciated that,” Ortiz said.
Ortiz and his team and his promoter, Richard Schaefer of Golden Bay, could’ve easily been nasty winners after stripping Berto of his prized WBC welterweight title green and gold belt. But they weren’t and the only person who took real verbal blows was a promoter who was in Puerto Rico on the night where his undefeated Juan Manuel Lopez was getting shocked by Orlando Salido.
Schaefer and Berto handler Lou DiBella, who showed class in losing by leading the congrats for Ortiz and the Goldens, fired some return fire shots at Bob Arum who they said had criticized they and HBO for staging the Ortiz-Berto bout.
“Arum criticized it, saying it shows that we and HBO don’t know what we’re doing, that we make bad matches, and all this fight did was finish as a true “Fight of the Year” candidate,” Schaefer said.
Yeah, I guess any four knockdown brawl, each guy down twice, would be a candidate for this honor but Ortiz’s prior history also loomed large coming in.
Schaefer did not mention it but I would add this result makes Ortiz a strong early candidate for “Fighter of the Year” and puts trainer Danny Garcia, lesser known brother of Nonito Donaire Jr. trainer Robert Garcia, in the running for the “Trainer of the Year” honors. And put manager Rolando Arellano’s name in the “Manager of the Year hat as well, too, as he never gave up on his charge.
DiBella also sniped at Top Rank bossman Arum for his remarks and noted that the late Arutro Gatti would’ve been proud of how both Berto and Ortiz stood their ground and exchanged big punches in the best Irish Micky Ward-Gatti tradition. But, as Schaefer noted, the overiding success story of the fight was Ortiz, the kid who was abandoned in Kansas by his parents and was taken in by foster parents.
