Staples Center, Los Angeles
June 27, 2009
Photos Courtesy of HBO Boxing
By Randy De La O
On Victor Ortiz:
Ortiz quit. During the interview with Max Kellerman he said "I don't deserve to get beat up like this". I'm not so sure I understand. No one deserves it but is a possibility when you decide to step into the ring. Every boxer knows that. He also said "I'm not going out on my back for anyone" (I'm paraphrasing).
Ortiz was in a tough fight to be sure, in fact it was a great fight, and he was giving a good account of himself. He came back from a knockdown early on and had Maidona down three times during the fight. The truth is Ortiz lost his will. This is not a case of a veteran fighter at the end of his career deciding he no longer had it. A lot of fighters have reached the end of their careers sitting on the stool unable, either physically of mentally, to continue. This is fighter being put to the test at the appropriate time in his career and he had no qualms about quitting.
Later, when the fight was over and people where milling around the ring, Sugar Shane Mosley was talking with Ortiz, trying to encourage him. A fighter like Mosley could never understand a fighter like Ortiz. Mosley would and has gone down swinging. If Golden Boy Promotions and boxing in general were pinning their hopes for the future of boxing on Victor Ortiz, they better look elsewhere, he's not their man.
On Marcos Maidana:
Maidana proved himself to be a fighter of means and substance. Maidana came back from three serious knockdowns to beat the favored Ortiz in a battle of attrition and wills. He literally took the fight out of his opponent. It will go down in the record book as having been stopped by referee Raul Caiz at 46 seconds into the sixth round but those of us who saw the fight know it was not Caiz that ended the fight.
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