By Dan Ambrose: Devon Alexander (27-4, 14 KOs) and former welterweight champion Victor Ortiz (32-6-2, 25 KOs) will be meeting up on February 17 on Premier Boxing Champions on Fox Sports 1 at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas.
The timing of the Alexander vs. Ortiz fight is not a good one, as it’ll compete with the Showtime Boxing televised card headlined by Danny Garcia vs. Brandon Rios, which takes place on the same night on February 17. That card has a decent co-feature bout between WBC super middleweight champion David Benavidez and Ronald Gavril.
Alexander-Ortiz would be an excellent undercard fight, but definitely not a main event type of match-up. It’s the wrong point in their careers to be fighting in a main event.
These two former welterweight champions are at the last chance saloon. Ortiz, 30, is still trying to rebuild his career from a series of bad defeats that he suffered from 2011 to 2016. The 30-year-old Alexander’s career has been on the downside since 2013, with him having lost 3 out of his last 5 fights. The good news is that Alexander and Ortiz both won their last fights. The trouble is, they were put in with weak 2nd tier opposition for them to get their victories.
Alexander was out of boxing from 2015 to 2017. Alexander came back last year and defeated Walter Castillo (26-5-1, 19 KOs) by a 10 round unanimous decision on October 14. Alexander looked decent at times in the fight, but nowhere near the level that he would need to be for him to defeat any of the world champions at 147.
Ortiz won his last fight in beating journeyman Saul Corral (27-10, 18 KOs) by a 4th round knockout on July 30. That was Ortiz’s first fight in 15 months since his 4th round knockout loss to Andre Berto on April 30th, 2016. Ortiz has won 3 fights in the last 4 years, but the victories have come against weak opposition.
These are the 3 guys that Ortiz has beaten since 2014:
• Manuel Perez (28-12-1, 7 KOs)
• Gilberto Sanchez Leon (35-14-2, 14 KOs)
• Saul Corral (27-10, 18 KOs)
This would be an excellent fight if it was in early 2011 before Ortiz started losing repeatedly. It’s good that Ortiz and Alexander are being given television exposure, but it might be the best use for the time. There are a lot of younger fighters that need to be built up. Alexander and Ortiz are well known to the hardcore boxing fans. That explains why they’re being put in a televised fight rather than young welterweight prospects. At least the hardcore fans can be counted on to watch the fight.
Ortiz had the chance to fight Brandon Rios. The fight didn’t happen. Rios is now facing Danny Garcia on February 17 in Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s likely that we could see Rios and Ortiz face each other later this year if both guys lose their next fights. Even under those circumstances, don’t be surprised if Rios vs. Ortiz is televised in a main event.
Alexander is a former IBF/WBA light welterweight and IBC welterweight champion. He’s suffered losses to Tim Bradley, Shawn Porter, Amir Khan and Aaron Martinez.