Victor Ortiz: What next?

By Jamie Eskdale - 02/02/2014 - Comments

ortiz1 - CopyBy Jamie Eskdale: After Victor Ortiz’ catastrophic defeat at the hands of Luis Collazo this past Thursday night where can he go from here? Going into the fight it seemed everyone was of the opinion that this was a real must win fight for Ortiz. After his self imposed exile from the game following his nasty jaw break in his bout against Josesito Lopez, Ortiz really had to hit the ground running. This made Collazo as the choice of opponent all the more baffling.

Collazo himself was at a crossroads. The victim of some dodgy decisions in the past, Collazo had slipped under the radar.

The last I had seen of him was on the Hopkins Dawson undercard in his defeat against Freddy Hernandez. I must admit I lost track of him after this, and was surprised to see his name floated around as an opponent for Ortiz.

I assumed he must have slipped a couple of notches given the fact he was being matched against Ortiz after such a lengthy lay off. Given the time and money GBP must have invested in Ortiz I would have expected a soft match to make Ortiz look good.

I had a look at Collazo’s fights after Hernandez and it was abundantly clear right away that Collazo was a bad match for Ortiz. Would a fit, healthy, active Ortiz beaten Colazzo? Well that we do not know.

One thing we do know though is that Ortiz appeared to quit again.

As soon as he felt the hook he scampered across the ring and looked for salvation between the ropes. At first I thought he would regroup, but as the count neared 10 Ortiz looked as though he would have rather been anywhere else than in the ring.

Ortiz to me is a real mystery. Genetically gifted and a natural athlete, Ortiz looks the type who could play any sport he turns his hand to. We’ve seen him fold too many times in the ring to now know that boxing isn’t his bag. This isn’t a criticism of the kid.

It’s an absolutely brutal game where physical attributes alone aren’t enough. A combatant must also be mentally tuned in and this is where Ortiz lacks.

In more recent interviews I have seen of him, he has seemed frustrated, often going off in rants about other fighters and people who have criticized him in the past.

This was new as he was always respectful and didn’t really talk smack about anyone in past interviews. Certainly not unprompted anyways.

We could go through his career and point out times where his heart and courage have let him down. I won’t go there in this article. I will leave that to others to discuss.
What I want to talk about his just where he goes from here.

If he was at a crossroads before the Colazzo fight, then where is he now?

Right now mentally I wouldn’t imagine he’ll be in a good place. However if he looks at the facts then he has had a good fighting career. He must’ve made a lot of money. The Mayweather fight alone could have set him up for life if he has been sensible with his money.

He has recently turned his hand to acting and starred in the expendables movie. This could be a future for him.

Some sort of personal training instruction could also work for him as he’s very active and fit outside of the boxing.

He could keep fighting on. Though if this was the route he chose then he would need to be very careful about the path he chooses.

He would need 4 or 5 fights against less than stellar opposition to get him back in the winning habit and get him in the right place mentally.

Though to be honest I really can’t see it.

Whatever he chooses he’ll always be able to say he was the WBC Welterweight Champion of the World.

I can be contacted on twitter @jamieeskdale83 or via email on j.eskdale83@sky.com.



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