By Chris Williams: Unbeaten light welterweight contender Victor Ortiz (22-0-1, 17 KOs) looked good in defeating an over-matched Roberto David Arrieta (30-14-4, 13 KOs) in a 5th round stoppage to win the vacant WBO NABO light welterweight title on Saturday night at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ortiz, 21, knocked Arrieta, an Argentinean, down three times in the fight – once in the 2nd, 4th and 5th – with the third knockdown resulting in referee Jay Nady stopping the fight at 2:25 of the 5th round. Ortiz, who looked positively in his last fight against power puncher Dairo Esalas in May, fought much better against the soft-punching Arrieta. Without having to worry about getting hit with any kind of power shots like the ones that Esalas was tagging Ortiz with in his last fight, Ortiz looked good and dominated Arrieta from start to finish.

Ortiz stalked Arrieta around the ring in the first round, hitting him with power jabs and left hooks to the head. He fought very tight, as if he were nervous and expecting anything from Arrieta. Ortiz needed worry, because Arrieta couldn’t punch his way out of a wet paper bag, as it turns out. After getting decked by Esalas in his last fight, this was a good thing for Ortiz, because he needed to especially look good after struggling last time out.

At the start of the second round, Ortiz, a southpaw, threw a powerful right-left combination that decked Arrieta. The right hand missed but the straight left sent Arrieta to the canvas. Arrieta got up off the canvas and took a lot of wicked shots from Ortiz, who looked as if he wanted to end the fight right then and there. However, he was a little too anxious for his own good, and missed many of his attempts at finishing Arrieta with power shots. Near the end of the round, Arrieta landed a hard fight hand to the head of Ortiz, the opening made available because of Ortiz thinking pure offense and nothing of defending himself.

Ortiz continued to have his way with Arrieta in the third round, hitting him with combinations to the head mostly. Perhaps he should have focused at least some of his shots downstairs to the lower body of Arrieta, because Ortiz seemed to be headhunting far too much and was somewhat predictable in his attacks.

In the 4th round, Ortiz continued to pummel the over-matched Arrieta with big shots to the head, A short time into the round, Ortiz stopped Arrieta with a perfect right-left combination while Arrieta was near the ropes. After Arrieta got up, a large red mark was visible on the right side of his face, likely put there by one of Ortiz’s stinging left hand shots. The remainder of the round saw Ortiz tagging Arrieta with left hand shots and occasionally clashing heads with him. Indeed, the two fighters bumped heads with each other at least twice, perhaps three times, very hard as Ortiz would come moving in a bit too fast when trying to land his punches. Luckily, he didn’t sustain any cuts from this. Arrieta, however, wasn’t so lucky, because he was cut badly over his right eyebrow, which bled into his eye making it hard to see.

Ortiz went after Arrieta in the 5th, stalking him like wounded deer all around the ring looking to land mainly left hands. It didn’t take long to catch up to him, at which point Ortiz blasted him down with a good left hand to the head. Arrieta got up but was in bad shape. After looking him over, and not liking what he saw, referee Jay Nady stopped the fight at 2:25 of the round.

It was a good win for Ortiz, but I can’t help remembering how badly he looked in his last fight, as well as his fight against Emmanuel Clottey in August 2007. Ortiz struggled in both and didn’t look like a future champion in either fight. I wouldn’t like his chances against fighters like Ricky Hatton, Paulie Malignaggi, Junior Witter and especially against Timothy Bradley.

In other action, undefeated super middleweight prospect Daniel Jacobs (9-0, 9 KOs) took out a hopelessly outclassed Ramon Espinoza (10-8, 4 KOs) in the 1st round of a scheduled six round bout on the undercard. Like most of Jacobs’ fights, Espinosa wasn’t in his class and was brought in unofficially as the sacrificial lamb for the slaughter. Jacobs, a top amateur star with incredible power in each hand, went after Espinosa from the bell, hitting him with power shots and driving him around the ring. Espinosa went down from a right hand seconds into the fight. He then was met with more massive fire from Jacobs after he got up, and was once again dropped by another right hand.

This time, referee Tony Gibson stopped the fight, putting an end to the slaughter at 0:57 of the 1st round. It was a good win for Jacobs, but also an indication that he needs to step it up against better fighters because he’s beating most of them in the first round and getting little out of it. He needs to be put in with a good fighter, preferably a B-level fighter rather than the D-class ones that he’s been served up with since turning professional in 2007. Unlike Ortiz, Jacobs may actually be good enough to win a title someday and hold it for a long time.