By Dan Ambrose: Victor Ortiz (29-3-2, 22 KO’s) is facing a guy that he’s favored to beat on Saturday night in his fight against Josesito Lopez (29-4, 17 KO’s) for the vacant WBC Super welterweight title at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

Ortiz, 25, has melted down mentally in losses to Marcos Maidana and Floyd Mayweather Jr. and to a certain extent in his 10 round draw against Lamont Peterson.

There’s a lot riding on Saturday’s fight for both guys, but especially for Ortiz because of his scheduled pay per view bout against WBC junior middleweight champion Saul Alvarez on September 15th. Ortiz can’t afford to blow his chance and his payday by losing to the fringe contender Lopez.

Ortiz will have the power, speed and experience advantage over Lopez in this fight. With all that going for Ortiz, he should be able to win the fight without too many problems as long as he keeps his head if things start going badly for him. Ortiz can’t afford to give up or get frustrated and start fouling like he did in the Mayweather bout. When Ortiz was halted by Maidana in an exciting multiple knockdown performance, Ortiz appeared to quit after he was knocked down by Maidana in the 6th round.

Although Ortiz did come back to quiet a lot of his critics with a 12 round decision win over Andre Berto in April of 2011, the perception is still there by some boxing fans that Ortiz isn’t strong mentally. That was further reinforced by a frustrated Ortiz fouling Mayweather by head-butting him in the 4th round last November.

Ortiz has to take the fight to Lopez and keep pressuring him for as long as the fight lasts. Ortiz can’t lighten up on Lopez because this will allow him to get back in the fight just like Peterson was able to get back in the fight in his draw with Ortiz.