by Eric Thomas: Light welterweight contender Victor Ortiz (28-2-2, 22 KO’s) may have had his share of problems in the past in fights against Marcos Maidana and Lamont Peterson, but he definitely has the physical tools to make WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (27-0, 21 KO’s) more than miserable on April 16th in their fight at the Foxwoods Resort Casino, in Mashantucket, Connecticut.

Although a light welterweight, Ortiz punches like a junior middleweight and has excellent size at 5’9”, reach and hand speed. In other words, the young 24-year-old Ortiz is more than a match with the 27-year-old Berto. However, you’d like to have seen Ortiz being brought into a fight of this magnitude with at least a good performance in his last fight.

Ortiz is coming off of a bad fight against Lamont Peterson last year in December where Ortiz knocked Peterson down a couple of times early in the fight in the 3rd, but then messed things up by trying to box Peterson the rest of the way instead of continuing to run over him with power shots.

It looked like Ortiz didn’t know his own strength and didn’t realize how powerful he was in that fight, because every time he came forward and landed combinations, he got the better of Peterson. But by moving around on the outside and trying to box, Ortiz played to Peterson’s strength and allowed him to win enough rounds to get a draw.

I still thought Ortiz did more than enough to win, but he ruined his case by trying to box a fighter that he didn’t have to box against. That style of fighting is what Ortiz needed in the Maidana fight, not the Peterson fight. Ortiz can beat Berto if he stays on top of him the way that Luis Callazo did in his controversial loss to Berto in January 2009.

Collazo exposed Berto’s lack of inside game in that fight. Berto was excellent on the outside, but Collazo stifled his power by keeping it on the inside for long stretches. Ortiz needs to do the same thing if he wants to beat Berto. He can’t run around like he did in the Peterson fight and hope to win a decision. It won’t happen. Ortiz is a slugger and the only way he can win is to fight in the style that got him to this point.