Roger Mayweather: Ortiz is better than Pacquiao

By Boxing News - 06/08/2011 - Comments

Image: Roger Mayweather: Ortiz is better than PacquiaoBy Chris Williams: Roger Mayweather, the uncle and trainer of boxing great Floyd Mayweather Jr., is quite pleased with Floyd’s choice of WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz (29-2-2, 22 KO’s) to fight on September 17th. Roger sees Ortiz as a very good fighter, even better than Manny Pacquiao.

In an interview at examiner.com, Roger said “I wouldn’t compare him [Ortiz] to Pacquiao. He’s better than Pacquiao; I know he is. Pacquiao aint going to fight [Mayweather] anyways. He wouldn’t even take a test; What does that tell you?”

I don’t know that Ortiz is a better fighter than Pacquiao but I do think he does somethings better than Pacquiao. I like Ortiz’s inside fighting skills much better than Pacquiao. Ortiz is very tough on the inside and can generate a lot of power at close range with both hands. Pacquiao is more of mid-range power puncher. He can’t get a lot of leverage in close on his shots the way that Ortiz does.

I also like Ortiz’s stamina right now. He’s looking stronger than Pacquiao in the later rounds. Ortiz’s work rate didn’t diminish one bit in the later rounds of his recent win over Andre Berto last April. He also didn’t lose any power on his shots. Ortiz was throwing with pretty much about the same kind of power in the 11th as he was in the 1st. In contrast, Pacquiao looked exhausted in the last four rounds of his fights against Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley.

I do like the way that Mayweather chose Ortiz. This pick is a lot better than the guys that Pacquiao has been facing in the past three years. Ortiz is at the very top of his game and isn’t someone on the slide or coming off a loss. He’s not just a fighter with a name who once was good. Ortiz is a hot fighter right now and is only going to get better. You have to give Mayweather a lot of credit for having the courage to take this fight.



Comments are closed.