By Dan Ambrose: Former WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz (29-4-2, 22 KO’s) hasn’t fought since he was stopped in the 9th round by Josesito Lopez last year in June. Ortiz looked terrible in getting beaten by a former light welterweight in a fight where Ortiz quit after the 9th round due to a fractured jaw. Ortiz’s jaw is now totally healed, and he’s scheduled to fight against an opponent still to be determined next month on December 14th at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
Ortiz is convinced that he’ll be a world champion again in the near future, whether that be at 147 or 154. He firmly believes that he’s going to pick up another title. It’s hard to argue against that from happening because his promoter at Golden Boy Promotions will likely match him against someone that they feel he has a good chance of beating. They’re not going to throw Ortiz in with someone that he absolutely has no chance of beating.
Ortiz said at the recent press conference “I kept telling myself in the back of my mind, ‘I will be World Champion. Like it or not, WBC, IBF, WBO, WBA, welterweight, super welterweight. Step aside, I’m back and that’s that.”
If Golden Boy wants to get Ortiz a belt then they’re going to need to get him a couple of quick victories over some fringe contenders so that he can get ranked at 154. They were attempting to match him against IBF junior middleweight champion Carlos Molina for December 14th, but the International Boxing Federation refused to sanction the fight because Ortiz wasn’t ranked at 154 and had lost his last two fights.
Ortiz is ranked #8 by the WBA in the welterweight division, but it looks like Golden Boy is positioning Ortiz to try and pick up the IBF title from Molina. If Ortiz can somehow get the fight against Molina and beat him, then Golden Boy will no doubt put together a fight between Ortiz and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Those two were supposed to have fought last year, but the fight didn’t happen after Ortiz was shockingly beaten by Josesito Lopez.
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