(Photo credit: Premier Boxing Champions) By Dan Ambrose: Former WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz (31-5-2, 24 KOs) says he’s looked into the eyes of his opponent 32-year-old Andre Berto (30-4, 23 KOs) and he sees loss in those eyes.
Ortiz and Berto will be fighting each other this Saturday night in a rematch on Premier Boxing Champions on Fox from the StubHub Center in Carson, California. The two of them fought each other five years ago when they were among the best fighters in the 147lb division.
Now at this point in their career neither of these guys are among the best. To be sure, Berto is ranked #3 by the WBC, but he clearly isn’t as good as the very generous ranking the World Boxing Council has bestowed upon him. Berto is more of a bottom fringe level contender at this point of his career.
Even some of the fringe contenders would likely beat Berto, Ortiz isn’t even ranked in the top 15, and that makes sense because he can’t be counted on to win fights unless their 2nd tier guys and smaller than him. Ortiz can beat the smaller 2nd tier guys.
“He might hate me. I respect him, but I’m coming to take him down and out. I know what I’m here for and that’s a victory,” said Oriz. “This is a totally different fight than five years ago. We’re different people. I’m a different guy and so is he. Saturday is right around the corner and I’m here. I see loss in his eyes. I’m ready. 100 percent.”
Both of these guys have slipped several notches with their skills due to age, injuries and inactivity. Ortiz believes that he’s going to be among the best again in the 147lb division. I think very few boxing fans would believe that to be true. When you’re getting knocked out by guys like Luis Collazo and Josesito Lopez, as Ortiz has been in the past, then that tells you that you’re not going to be among the best in the 147lb division.
Ortiz can still punch, so he should be able to get Berto out of there unless he quits on his stool again if the going gets tough. You can never really tell with Ortiz. He can do really well in a fight, but then suddenly quit when he starts having to deal with some adversity. We saw that in Ortiz’s fights against Floyd Mayweather Jr., Marcos Maidana and Josesito Lopez. That’s why a lot of fans have given up on Ortiz because they question his heart and his interest in the sport. Ortiz doesn’t help himself that he works as an actor too. He missed a lot of time after suffering a broken jaw in his loss to Lopez, and that made a lot of fans wonder how much interest he had in boxing.
“It’s been five years coming and now we’re here,” said Berto. “The stuff Victor said on the stage and his body language. I believe he knows he is going to be in there with a different type of animal this time. I think he is already defeated. He sees how focused I am. If he has been hearing anything from camp, he knows I’m ready to go. He didn’t believe anything he said on the stage. Looking at him face to face, he was trying to tell jokes. I think that he knows that he is going to be in there with a different Andre Berto.”
If Berto really takes the fight to Ortiz on Saturday night, he could make him quit. You know the old saying, ‘Once a quitter always a quitter.’ I’m really hoping we don’t see Ortiz quit, but I think he might preserve his body by quitting if he starts dealing with some pain in this fight.