Victor Ortiz listened for nearly two years as people in the boxing industry questioned his courage after his sixth-round technical knockout loss to hard-hitting Marcos Maidana in June 2009 at Staples Center. To some, Ortiz’s body language in that sixth round indicated he wanted out.
It’s doubtful those who wondered if Ortiz has heart are still wondering after Ortiz’s dazzling and gutty performance in wresting away Andre Berto’s welterweight world title last Saturday. Ortiz twice decked Berto, but Ortiz also tasted the canvas twice – the final time in the sixth round when Berto belted him with a vicious right cross.
Ortiz afterward thanked Manny Pacquiao for some advice he gave him the day of the fight.
“We talked today and he said stick to my game plan, that I’m a very good fighter and don’t take anybody’s negativity,” said Ortiz, who moved up from 140 to 147 and beat Berto via unanimous decision.
Three days later, on Tuesday, Oscar De La Hoya spoke about Ortiz’s biggest victory. As someone who absorbed his share of put-downs while he was fighting, De La Hoya said he can relate to what Ortiz went through.
“Yeah, absolutely,” said De La Hoya, who promotes Ortiz under his Golden Boy Promotions banner. “Obviously, you go in there and you want to prove people wrong. It’s a big motivation.
“You’re feeling anger inside because all these people were saying, `Oh, (Ortiz) has no chance,’ and this and that and, `Berto’s going to knock (Ortiz) out.’
“There is always going to be criticism. I told him, `Look, the more criticism you have, the more success you’re going to have. It’s part of the game.”‘
De La Hoya said even he was somewhat surprised at what happened in the sixth round against Berto. When Ortiz went down, it appeared he was smacked hard enough that he might have difficulty getting off the canvas. Not only did he rise, he knocked down Berto near the end of the round.
If there was any question regarding Ortiz’s backbone, that answered it.
“The big right hand he got caught with in the sixth round, I didn’t count him out, but I didn’t think he was going to get up and drop Berto,” De La Hoya said.
De La Hoya was so impressed with Ortiz, he said he now wants only the best available for the young man from Ventura. Asked about the possibility of an Ortiz-Pacquiao fight – assuming Pacquiao beats “Sugar” Shane Mosley in two weeks – De La Hoya came with a strong prediction.
“I have to say if they fight four, five months from now, I have Victor winning probably by knockout,” De La Hoya said.
“Victor’s a strong guy.”
Pacquiao and his trainer, Freddie Roach, played host to a workout Wednesday at Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Hollywood. Roach scoffed slightly when told of De La Hoya’s proclamation.
“No, I don’t know about that,” Roach said. “But I picked Victor to win the fight (against Berto) because I liked him at the weight. My reason is that one day he sparred with Manny Pacquiao when he was weighing like 155 and not making weight, not close to a fight and he and Manny Pacquiao had one of the best sparring sessions I ever saw in my life.”
Roach said he told Ortiz for years that 140 was too light for him.
Like Roach, Pacquiao had Ortiz beating Berto.
“It was good, he’s strong,” Pacquiao said, recalling his six-round session with Ortiz in June 2008. “That’s why I picked him to win the fight.”
The problem with trying to put together an Ortiz-Pacquiao fight is that Pacquiao is promoted by Bob Arum and Arum and Golden Boy are embroiled in a bitter feud. De La Hoya said that has to change.
“Eventually, something’s gotta break,” De La Hoya said. “People are demanding for these fights to happen. … Eventually the fans are going to want to watch him against Pacquiao or him against (Floyd) Mayweather or him against the top guys.”
Arum was impressed with Ortiz’s victory.
“I thought it was a gutty performance and it really surprised me because based on his past body of work, I didn’t feel that he could perform like that,” he said Tuesday.
But the only way Arum would consider giving Ortiz (29-2-2, 22 KOs) a shot at Pacquiao is if Golden Boy apologizes for its part in allegedly defaming Pacquiao by suggesting he might be taking performance-enhancing drugs. Pacquiao has a lawsuit against De La Hoya, Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer and members of the Mayweather family.
“I’m a protector of Pacquiao, as his promoter,” Arum said. “What they said about Pacquiao, both Oscar and Richard, is disgusting.”
The way Ortiz fought a week ago, the thought of a fight between him and Pacquiao is not disgusting. Certainly, it’s intriguing.
“I’m going to take a vacation and then shoot for the big names,” said Ortiz, 24. “I don’t make a helluva lot. Why not shoot for the big ones?”
Spotlight shifts to Perez-Darchinyan at Nokia
Tonight’s main event at Nokia Theatre at L.A. Live was supposed to feature Joseph “King Kong” Agbeko defending his bantamweight world title against Abner Mares in the Showtime bantamweight tournament finale. But Agbeko was felled by sciatica on Monday and pulled out.
That means the third-place tournament fight between former world champions Yonnhy Perez and Vic Darchinyan was moved to the top of the marquee. Since Perez and Darchinyan are coming off December losses to Agbeko and Mares, respectively, this will be a good chance for them to redeem themselves in a bigger spotlight since Showtime will televise just that bout.
Perez, of Colombia, had been doing his training in Santa Fe Springs under trainer Danny Zamora. But Perez, who is married with children, said he became tremendously homesick while training for Agbeko and that hurt his performance. His training camp for tonight’s bout was in Colombia.
“This training is distinctly different in that I have a lot of motivation,” Perez said. “I was able to train in Colombia (for six weeks) and that motivated me so much.”
Perez (20-1-1, 14 KOs) lost his world title to Agbeko by two, four and six points on the scorecards.
As for Darchinyan (35-3-1, 27 KOs), he is eager to return after losing to Mares by split decision.
“I am very confident that I will knock out Perez, destroy him,” said Darchinyan, a hard hitter from Australia via Armenia. “The last time I fought stupid against Mares.
“This time I’m going back to my old style of fighting. I am coming in to destroy.”
First bell is 5 p.m. Tickets range from $25-$200 and are available through Ticketmaster as well as the Staples Center box office.
Etc.
The second episode of “Fight Camp 360: Pacquiao vs. Mosley” is on tap tonight on Showtime. Showtime will televise the May 7 welterweight title fight between champion Manny Pacquiao and “Sugar” Shane Mosley from MGM Grand in Las Vegas on its pay-per-view arm for a whopping $54.95. “Fight Camp 360” is very well done, and is basically Showtime’s version of HBO’s 24/7. … Assuming it goes on as planned, the heavyweight title unification fight between Wladimir Klitschko and David Haye on July 2 in Germany (on HBO) could be a good one. Certainly, it will be the most highly anticipated heavyweight title fight in years. The two were slated to tangle in 2009, but Haye pulled out. The fight was announced this week.
