By Dan Ambrose: It’s been six long years since Victor Ortiz (31-5-2, 24 KOs) last fought Andre Berto (30-4, 23 KOs) in their fight in April 2011, but now the two of them will be facing each other in a rematch in eight days from now on April 30 at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
Ortiz beat Berto by a 12 round decision in their fight in the past. Ortiz knocked Berto down in the 1st, and Berto returned the favor in the 2nd round. In the 6th, both guys went down. However, Berto gassed out and ended up getting dominated in the last half of the fight. It’s quite possible we’ll see the same scenario play out in the rematch if Ortiz makes it to that part of the fight.
Berto has stamina issues that Ortiz can take advantage of if he’s smart and doesn’t get caught with a silly shot like he did in his stoppage loss to Luis Collazo.
Neither of these guys appear to be doing anywhere with their careers other than maybe getting a payday world title shot that they’ll likely lose badly. Their rematch is little more than an old timer’s fight in the minds of some fans despite the fact that Berto and Ortiz aren’t really old. In boxing, fighters sometimes age quicker than others, especially when they’ve had to deal with the injuries that we’ve seen with Ortiz and Berto.
Those guys have had a string of injuries that wiped out major portions of their careers, and now they’re trying to come back to regain what they lost. I’m not sure that they can do it. Ortiz feels that he’s a better fighter due to him being a real welterweight now at 29 instead of a light welterweight that needed to pump weights to get to 147.
“I think I’ve finally grew into my body,” Ortiz said to Fighthub.com. “Like I said, my first fight with Berto I was a junior welterweight moving up to 147. I had to lift weights to make weight. Now I’m actually dieting, working hard, I don’t really lift too much, but I’m coming down…my arms, everything, I just grew up a little bit.”
Ortiz hasn’t fought since last December when he beat Gilberto Sanchez Leon by an eighth round knockout. Leon is a journeyman fighter and not a top fighter in the 147lb division. Before that, Ortiz defeated light welterweight Manuel Perez by a 3rd round knockout. Just what Ortiz was doing fighting a 140lb fighter is anyone’s guess. As big as Ortiz is now, he should have been fighting a welterweight instead of a guy much lighter like Perez.
“To be honest with you it’s a great fight,” said Ortiz about his rematch with Berto. “The guy comes hungry, again. The first fight he says he didn’t arrive, it was a fluke. He had an excuse on top of an excuse on top of an excuse. Good for you. But April 30th I will remind him why I was victorious the first fight.”
Too much time has elapsed for the Ortiz vs. Berto II fight to be a great fight. I think it’s a fight that is similar to car wreck that you see on the side of the road as your passing by. You can’t help but to look at it, but you don’t take enjoyment in seeing it.
I don’t see either of these guys going anywhere other than getting a payday world title shot that neither of them deserve in my view. They can get a world title fight, but I just see them both losing badly no matter which world champion they’re matched up against. I wouldn’t want to see the Ortiz-Berto II winner facing WBC champion Danny Garcia, WBA champion Keith “One Time” Thurman or IBF champ Kell Brook. I think all those guys would easily best Berto and Ortiz.
“I’m not the same fighter I was five years ago. He’s not the same fighter he was five years ago. So it’s two different fighters in a whole new fight, in a whole new year, so hey, we’re gonna bang it out,” said Ortiz. “I believe so, yeah. We ain’t going 12. I’m not trying to go no 12 with him – he talks too much!”