Victor Ortiz wants rematches against Maidana, Collazo and Lopez

By Boxing News - 04/29/2015 - Comments

ortiz1By Dan Ambrose: Former WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz (30-5-2, 23 KOs) has seen his once promising career go downhill since his 4th round knockout loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2011.

Ortiz, still young at just 28, has fought only three times since the Mayweather fight, and has lost two of those three fights. Ortiz did win his last bout against Manuel Perez by a 3rd round stoppage, but Ortiz suffered a hand injury that fight that required surgery to repair the problem.

Ortiz won’t be able to start using his hand until July, and we’re probably not going to see him back inside the ring until later this year.

Ortiz wants to avenge his defeats to Marcos Maidana, Luis Collazo and Josesito Lopez. All three of those fighters knocked Ortiz out. Despite the losses, Ortiz feels he can beat all three of them, and that’s why he’s targeting all of them. He thinks he’s good enough to do the job on them. He wants to start relatively soft by going after Josesito Lopez first before tacking the tougher guys in Maidana and Collazo. Maidana is likely going to be saved for last by Lopez if he can get past Lopez and Collazo.

“I want Maidana but I want to start with Lopez,” Ortiz said via Dan Rafael of ESPN.com. “And I’d like a rematch with Collazo also, but let’s not do it on anyone’s home turf. Los Angeles and not [New York].”

Ortiz was stopped by Lopez in the 9th round in June 2012. The loss erased what would have been a good money fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Ortiz then was stopped in the Collazo in February of 2014.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywlet1_MQus

It’s likely that Ortiz will be able to defeat Lopez if he can get a fight against him. Lopez was always a shaky fighter, and he’s had three stoppage losses since beating Ortiz in 2012. Lopez was beaten by Canelo in 2012, Maidana in 2013, and Andre Berto in March of 2015.

“I have nothing to prove to Berto,” Ortiz said. Besides, we were going to do a rematch and then he was on steroids so why should I fight him again?”

There’s a reason why it would be a good idea for Ortiz to fight Berto again. Berto is the interim WBA welterweight title after his stoppage win over Josesito Lopez recently.

If Ortiz were able to fight Berto again he would have an excellent chance of pulling off an upset if you want to call it that. Ortiz defeated Berto by a 12 round unanimous decision in an exciting fight in 2011. It was a good enough fight for there to be a lot of interest with boxing fans in seeing Berto and Ortiz to fight again. Ortiz would obviously change his mind if he were to receive a big offer to fight Berto. Whether that will happen is another question.

Ortiz needs to heal up and get back inside the ring and stay busy with his career. There’s no reason why he should have fought only three times in three years. That’s just really bad on Ortiz’s part.



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