Victor Ortiz not retiring, wants Berto third fight

By Boxing News - 05/02/2016 - Comments

Image: Victor Ortiz not retiring, wants Berto third fightBy Patrick McHugh: Victor Ortiz (31-6-2, 24 K0s) suffered his fourth defeat in his last six fights last Saturday night in getting stopped in the fourth round by 32-year-old Andre Berto (31-4, 24 KOs) at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.

Ortiz changed his fighting style completely in this fight by not slugging, and yet he was still knocked down twice in the 4th round and stopped by Berto at 1:14 of the round. After the fight, the 29-year-old Ortiz was adamant about wanting to continue his pro career despite his lack of success in the last five years.

Ortiz says he wants to fight Berto in a third fight as soon as possible if he’s willing to fight him again. Berto didn’t say anything wanting to take Ortiz up on that offer, however. Berto is looking along the lines of getting a title shot in his next fight against WBC welterweight champion Danny “Swift” Garcia (32-0, 18 KOs). Garcia already said he wants to fight Berto next, and he pointed out that they’re both managed by Al Haymon.

“I was sure as heck, I was going to win the fight,” Ortiz said at the post-fight press conference. “We were doing well. I just didn’t see the uppercut coming. It would be nice to do a third fight. Why not? You had Manny vs. Tim Bradley three times,” said Ortiz.

When asked when he’d like to fight Berto again, Ortiz said “As soon as possible would be awesome. I’m already in shape. I saw a more dangerous Berto five years ago. Today’s Berto wasn’t the Berto five years ago, but he still carries an anvil in both fists. With that said, it only takes one punch. That fight [in 2011] was even more brutal than this one. Why retire? I’m going to enjoy this. I’m still young. I’ve only had a handful of fights in my prime. Do I go to war? Yeah. Do I take beatings? If I can’t get up, no. I get up and try to fight, but if my feet aren’t responding, then hey, I tried. It’s just the equilibrium was a little off. The welterweight division is packed. All the top 10 fighters, why not,” said Ortiz about wanting to continue his career and face the best in the 147lb division.

If Berto loses to Danny Garcia, then we could very well see Berto and Ortiz fighting each other again. Berto looked good last Saturday night, but that may have been because he was fighting Ortiz. If Berto were fighting a higher level contender like Errol Spence, Tim Bradley or Shawn Porter, we might have seen a less impressive Berto. Ortiz said it himself that Berto isn’t as good as he was five years ago when the two of them first fought each other in 2011.

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I agree with Ortiz about this. Berto isn’t as good now as he was back them. The only difference is that Ortiz is clearly far worse now than he was in 2011.

The Ortiz vs. Berto II rematch brought in 1.151 million viewers on Premier Boxing Champions on Fox last Saturday. The ratings weren’t good unfortunately compared to the Danny Garcia vs. Robert Guerrero fight that took place earlier this year.