By Allan Fox: Former WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz (29-3-2, 22 KO’s) likely is having a hard time keeping his concentration on his upcoming fight on June 23rd against fringe contender Josesito Lopez (29-4, 17 KO’s) with a big money fight against WBC junior middleweight champion Saul Alvarez on September 15th staring him in the face.
The 25-year-old Ortiz will be facing the 21-year-old Alvarez at the MGM Grand on the 15th of September unless Lopez is able to knock Ortiz out of the way by beating him on the 23rd of this month.
Ortiz said this about looking past Lopez: “I just want to say that I don’t disrespect anyone. I’m fighting Josesito Lopez on June 23, who I’ve been training for and ignoring everyone else.”
This is a good outlook, because Ortiz is the last fighter that should be overlooking anyone at this point. He’s already been beaten by Marcos Maidana and Floyd Mayweather Jr. in fights in which Ortiz seemed to lose focus mentally and make huge mistakes.
Ortiz also was held to a 10 round draw with Lamont Peterson December 2010 in a fight that Ortiz was easily winning the first five rounds. Just when things were going swimmingly for Ortiz, he suddenly stopped slugging with Peterson and started boxing with him. This allowed Peterson to creep back in the fight, because kept applying pressure on Ortiz.
Lopez is a lot like Peterson in that he’s very good at pressuring his opponents and landing good shots. If Ortiz can’t keep mentally engaged for the full 12 rounds of the fight for the vacant WBC Silver welterweight title, Ortiz will lose just like he did against Mayweather and Maidana.
Ortiz has a big advantage in power and speed in this fight. He’s simply the more talented fighter of the two on paper. However, Lopez has a way of wearing guys down and if he can keep pressuring Ortiz, he might be able to break him mentally.
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