By Richard Myers: Victor Ortiz (29-2-2, 22KOs) was once hailed as the new ‘Golden Boy’ and one of brightest prospects on the planet. With a story of rags to riches and youth he was a promoters dream. Along comes the Argentine slugger Marcos Maidana (30-2, 27 KO’s) and his world came crashing down. A great fight with knock downs for both parties ultimately Maidana came out on top and Ortiz was left to pick up the pieces of his reputation.

Since then Ortiz has gone from strength to strength beating solid opposition and always looking good. This included former world champions; Nate Campbell, Vivian Harris and more recently the undefeated Andre Berto. The only dip in form occurred at the back end of the Lamont Peterson fight (a draw) which I thought Ortiz still won. He had Peterson down twice and I felt he won more of the rounds more convincingly. The Berto fight will be listed as a candidate for fight of the year without a doubt. Again like the Maidana fight both fighters hit the canvas. In the end Victor earned the victory and finally a star was born. Unlike the current champions in the welterweight division Victor went for the most avoided and undefeated fighter to prove his point.

Recently it was rumored that Victor would fight Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather Jr. This was quickly ended by the Mayweather party but it got me thinking about who he should fight next. Obviously Manny Pacquiao has been mentioned but this is unlikely to happen due to the ridiculous relationship between Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions. I also think Victor needs to realise that it is fighters like himself who are the future of boxing and chasing those two names would be a waste of his prime years. He can build his own legacy by facing the other young lions such as Mike Jones, Kell Brook and Amir Khan (when he finally makes the step up to welterweight). There are also the other two welterweight champions Jan Zaveck (31-1, 18 KO’s) the IBF champion and Viacheslav Senchenko (31-0, 20 KO’s) the WBA champion. Neither is that young but they are champions and should not be overlooked and both would love the pay day. Too long have champions in Europe been considered paper champions just because the American fans have not seen them fight. Look what was said of Andriy Kotelnik before he boxed Amir Khan. Then he went and made Devon Alexander look like my cat Lilly’s play thing.

Ultimately I believe that Ortiz will be a big star in the next few years and from what I have seen I like him. He is a great guy, he is in great fights, he will fight anyone and he has power that can change a fight around. I hope he does not waste his time chasing Floyd and Manny (even though I would like to see those fights!). There are other meaningful fights to be made…..