By Eric Hernandez: Tonight was suppose to be the out coming party for Victor Ortiz, instead what we might have gotten was a retiring party. After getting knocked out by Marcos Rene Maidana (26-1 25 ko’s) Victor Ortiz sounded like a man not long for this sport. I have stated in the past that putting the super star tag on Victor Ortiz before he was tested was premature and that tonight would be his greatest test and sadly enough he failed miserably.
If you saw the piece on HBO on Victor Ortiz it’s hard not to root for this young man, he’s articulate and brutally honest which in this sport is a plus. The evening started well enough for Ortiz as he walked towards the ring to the music of Michael Jackson, a fitting tribute to the King of Pop from a guy who was trying to become the king of boxing.
Round one started with both fighters looking apprehensive, Maidana was looking down right nervous and was way too tight so when he got floored in the first round it wasn’t exactly unexpected, what came next was, a perfect right hand by Maidana dropped Ortiz and he got up wobbly and with a minute left in the round the end for Ortiz was a possibility.
In round 2 the Victor Ortiz who many predict would be the next super star showed up, he control the round with good shots from both hands but it was the right hand perfectly deposited at maidana chin that caused Maidana to not only go down but contemplate quitting, there was yet another knock down just before the bell rang and it appeared that the end of this fight was coming to an end and Ortiz would survive to live another day but a funny thing happen on the way to super stardom, while Ortiz won round 3 and round 4 the fight began to look a bit a bit dangerous for Ortiz.
Round 5 started with Ortiz putting punches together and there were some bad intention with each punch but in the process he ate some rigtht hands from Maidana and you could see the confidence of Maidana growing, by the end of the 5 round Ortiz was bleeding from the right eye from a left hook to the head by the end of the round Maidana was throwing right hand bombs and landed a couple which would set the tone for round 6.
The end came quickly and shockingly in round 6, Maidana came out throwing overhand rights, sideways rights, underhand rights and every kind of right you can think off, he connected early and often and didn’t stop throwing until Ortiz was laying on the canvas which ironically enough came from a left hand to the body but make no mistake it was the over hand rights that did the damage.
Ortiz was battered, bloody and bruised, and while history will say the fight was stop because of a cut in the eye anyone who saw this fight knows that Ortiz quit in this fight, his will was broken and he was looking for a way out. Tonight we learned that Ortiz is a likable fighter with many skills but the one skill needed for this sport, the one that was on display recently by Cotto (who cut by the way was worst than the one suffer by Ortiz tonight) is heart.
It’s a skill you can’t train for or develop, you either have or you don’t and if you don’t then you make the kind of statements Ortiz gave in his post fight interview, when interviewed by Kellerman he alluded to the fact that he didn’t want to go out on his back and more telling was saying he’s young and didn’t deserve to get beat up and has some thinking to do, yes you do young man and so do the boxing expert who were so eager to anoint you the next great one. Tonight we salute Marcos Maidano.
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