By Eric Thomas: In a make or break fight for Victor Ortiz (28-2-1, 22 KO’s), he faces Lamont Peterson (28-1, 14 KO’s) in a 12 round bout on Saturday night on the Amir Khan vs. Marcos Maidana undercard at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada. This fight could very well be the most competitive fight of the night because the Khan-Maidana bout has a chance to end early if Maidana connects with one of his big shots on the chin of Khan.

Ortiz, 23, has kind of been lost in the hype surrounding the Khan vs. Maidana fight. Part of that is Ortiz’s fault because he’s not as vocal as Khan in singing his own praises and talking about his future the way that Khan often does in a favorable light. Ortiz is more down to earth and modest, taking each fight as they come and not making big predictions for his fights. On Saturday, he faces a very skilled fighter in 26-year-old Peterson and this could be a tough fight for Ortiz unless he starts letting loose with his heavy artillery early.

Both Ortiz and Peterson have suffered career setbacks recently. Ortiz was stopped in the 6th round last year when he made the mistake of trying to slug with Maidana, whereas Peterson was soundly beaten by Timothy Bradley in a lopsided 12 round decision loss in December 2009. Peterson ran into a fighter with more speed and power, and didn’t have an answer for anything that Bradley was doing in the fight. Peterson rebounded from that defeat with a 7th round TKO win over Damian Fuller in April. Ortiz has won his last four fights since the Maidana defeat, beating Antonio Diaz, Hector Alatorre, Nate Campbell and Vivian Harris. Those were all good but not great fighters for Ortiz. Peterson is likely going to be a slight step up from those fighters. Ortiz should get another stoppage win unless Peterson’s chin is better than I think it is.