Ortiz vs. Berto rematch will have to wait

By Boxing News - 04/24/2011 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose: WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz is eying Floyd Mayweather Jr. or a title defense against his mandatory challenger Selcuk Aydin for his first defense of Ortiz’s newly won World Boxing Council title. Ortiz, 24, defeated champion Andre Berto last week, beating him by a close 12 round unanimous decision win.

Berto’s promoter Lou Dibella wants a rematch with Ortiz for Berto. However, he recognizes that the rematch may not happen next because Ortiz is likely going to go for the best possible fight he can get before taking on a tough fighter like Berto in a rematch.

Berto and Ortiz exchanged knockdowns in their fights with both of them going down twice. Both fighters were hurt in that fight. However, Berto took a lot of punishment while against the ropes and looked to be exhausted after the 6th. Ortiz has his way from the 7th on and only had to worry about an occasional big punch from Berto.

Golden Boy Promotions, the promoter for Ortiz, likes the idea of matching him against Mayweather. That’s a fight they will at least try to make. Mayweather was at the Ortiz-Berto fight watching the action. He left early before seeing Ortiz win the fight. Mayweather knows how much trouble Ortiz would be from seeing that fight and he might not want to mix it up with someone as young and powerful as Ortiz.

In the past couple of years, Mayweather has beaten a smaller Juan Manuel Marquez and older 39-yeaar-old Shane Mosley. Those are good fighters but neither is as young and powerful as Ortiz. This would be a very tough fight for Mayweather if he were to take the fight.

If Berto doesn’t get the immediate rematch with Ortiz, his promoter is going to need to find someone for him to take on while he waits for the rematch. It’s going to be interesting to see if Berto will be matched tough or be put back in with some of the same type of soft opposition that he’s been facing off and on for the past three years.



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