By Dan Ambrose: Since being stopped in the 6th round by Marcos Maidana in June 2009, light welterweight contender Victor Ortiz (28-2-2, 22 KO’s) has tinkered with his fighting style and changed it from being a slugger to being more of a boxer/puncher.

Normally I would say this was a wise decision for Ortiz to make, as he rebounded from the Maidana loss by winning four straight fights until his recent 10 round draw with Lamont Peterson. However, I think Ortiz is much better off focusing on his power game and looking to get his opponents out of there as fast as possible.

Ortiz has arguably the best power in the light welterweight division, but what makes him even more dangerous than a guy like Maidana is that he’s a southpaw and has top notch hand speed. Ortiz isn’t as fast as someone like WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan, but Ortiz punches a lot harder than Khan.

He’s fast enough that with his huge power, Ortiz can take anyone out inside six rounds if he attacks them the way he did Maidana. This is why it was so frustrating watching Ortiz’s fight with Peterson recently.

Ortiz had Peterson badly hurt in the first three rounds from big power shots but then backed off and started trying to box him instead of finishing him off. Ortiz wasn’t even attacking Peterson hard, yet he had him up and down on the canvas like a yo-yo.

Had Ortiz turned on his offense and went all out, he would have easily finished Peterson off in the 3rd or 4th rounds. Ortiz is still young at 23, but he needs to take advantage of his huge power and just run over the guys that he’s put in with. Peterson didn’t stand a chance when Ortiz was throwing power shots, but then Ortiz backed off and let him in the fight by wasting time trying to box instead of slug.