By Dan Ambrose: Former WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz (29-4-2, 22 KO’s) says he’s going to stick it out at welterweight rather than moving up to junior middleweight because he says he wants to beat all the top guys at 147 first before he moves up to 154 to face WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
Ortiz, 26, hasn’t fought since he was stopped by Josesito Lopez last June in the 9th round after suffering a broken jaw in two places.
Ortiz said to RingTV “I am gonna stay at 147 pounds for a little bit longer I’m sure, just because I wanna clean the division…I wanna show that I am that pound-for-pound 147. Once I’m done there, definitely 154, that’s next.”
I don’t know that it’s a realistic goal for Ortiz to be talking about cleaning up the welterweight division because he’s failed in his last two fights at that weight, and not looked good in either fight. It might be in Ortiz’s best interest to move up to the weaker 154 pound division and see how he does against guys like Canelo, Ishe Smith, Vanes Martirosyan, Erislandy Lara, Austin Trout, Cornelius Bundrage and Zaurbek Baysangurov.
Ortiz has the skills and the heart to beat some of them, but probably not all of them. Canelo is the guy that Ortiz will be looking to face first of all because he’s the money guy.
In the same interview, Ortiz said he wasn’t impressed by Canelo and by WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin. Ortiz didn’t say specifically what he wasn’t impressed with about them, but he does feel he can beat Canelo. It’s unclear what his thoughts are about Golovkin. I wouldn’t like that match-up for Ortiz because Golovkin is just too strong and he’d likely hurt Ortiz if that fight were to be made.
As far as Ortiz staying at welterweight, he’s going to have to target Devon Alexander, Kell Brook, Paulie Malignaggi, Manny Pacquiao, and Floyd Mayweather Jr. to see if he can beat any of them. I think Ortiz can beat Brook, Malignaggi, Alexander and possibly Pacquiao, but obviously not Mayweather.
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