By Jason Kim: Legendary trainer Emanuel Steward feels that WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz (29-2-2, 22 KO’s) has the tools needed to pull off an upset on Saturday night against unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. (41-0, 25 KO’s) in their fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In an interview at eastsideboxing.com ‘s On The Ropes Boxing Radio program, Steward said “If he [Ortiz] can [fight] the same type of high charged energetic fight that he fought with [Andre] Berto. He needs to come out and try to force Floyd to fight out of his comfort zone, pressure him, and make him fight faster than he likes to fight…That’s the only way he’s going to be able to beat Floyd.”
Steward points to several different areas that Ortiz has going for him that could create huge problems for Mayweather, such as speed, fast pace and youth. Mayweather doesn’t fight well when he’s pushed hard to fight at a quicker pace than he normally does, and Ortiz is just that type of fighter that can set a blistering pace to get Mayweather out of his game.
Floyd hasn’t fought a really good fighter that fought at a fast pace since his two fights with Jose Luis Castillo in 2002. But that was a younger Mayweather, and he’s now 34, and is coming off of a long layoff from the ring given that he hasn’t fought since his one-sided 12 round decision victory over an older 38-year-old Shane Mosley in 2010.
Ortiz has to back Floyd up and throw nonstop punches while he’s pinned against the ropes or else chase him around the ring. Floyd can move for a little while in the center of the ring, but he likes to rest against the ropes the same way that Berto did. Ortiz will have almost the same kind of fight but with a much more accurate puncher in Mayweather. If Ortiz’s chin can handle the short range punches from Mayweather, then he has a great chance of winning this fight if he can keep throwing to exhaust Floyd and use up his energy.
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