By Jeff Aranow: It’s now a done deal that former 2 division world champion Devon Alexander (27-4, 14 KOs) will be fighting Victor Ortiz (32-6-2, 25 KOs) on February 17. It’s a crossroads fight for these 2 fading world champions. The Ortiz-Alexander card’s start time is at 8:00 p.m. ET on PBC on Fox.
The loser of the fight will need to make a big career decision whether it’s worth it to continue plugging along in boxing. Even the winner of the fight will have a long road ahead of them to get a title shot. If Ortiz loses the fight, I don’t see where he can go. He’s been beaten so many times in the last five years of his career. It might be time for him to retire.
Alexander and Ortiz used to be good fighters many years ago at light welterweight and welterweight, but they’ve both been beaten repeatedly in recent years, and they’re no longer considered the highest quality fighters now.
Ortiz-Alexander will be televised on Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on Fox and Fox Deportes on Feb.17 at the Don Haskins Center on the UTEP campus in El Paso, Texas. Ortiz vs. Alexander fight will be taking place on the same night as a Showtime broadcast between welterweights Danny Garcia and Brandon Rios. It’s too bad the 2 fights couldn’t have placed on the same card, as it would give the boxing fans the opportunity to see the similar type of match-ups back to back. Danny Garcia is facing a faded fighter in Brandon Rios, who was a good fighter 6 years ago, but who now is pretty much over-the-hill. Danny Garcia is likely going to be in the same position Ortiz, Rios and Alexander are in now soon in terms of his career. He was already beaten in his last fight against Keith Thurman.
”My priority is to make a strong comeback and putting myself in a position to have my straps once again. I demonstrated what I was made of and did what I said I was going to do in my last fight,” said Ortiz. ”I’m ready to prove everyone wrong starting on Feb. 17.”
The 30-year0old Ortiz isn’t rated in the top 15 by any of the sanctioning bodies at 147 and neither is Alexander. If Ortiz is going to get a world title shot soon, he’s going to need to do more than beat Alexander. It’s going to take more than beating Alexander to get a crack at a world title. Alexander has lost 2 out of his last 3 fights. We’re not talking about the cream of the crop at 147.
Ortiz sounds like he’s a little embittered for some reason. It’s not as if Ortiz hasn’t had plenty of opportunities to “prove everyone wrong” in the last 4 years. The problem is Ortiz keeps losing. The boxing public are forming their opinion about Ortiz based on what he’s showing them. The guy keeps getting beaten, so of course they’re going to criticize his talent. The thing is, the fighters that are beating Ortiz aren’t considered the best. Ortiz is losing to guys that are fringe level fighters.
These are the fighters that Ortiz has lost to in the last 6 years:
• Andre Berto
• Josesito Lopez
• Luis Collazo
These guys aren’t anywhere close to be the best at 147, and yet Ortiz has been getting beaten by them. Ortiz’s wins in the last 4 years of his career have come against journeymen level fighters in Manuel Perez, Gilberto Sanchez Leon and Saul Corral. Ortiz is still capable of beating journeyman obviously, but he’s not been able to beat the next level fighters.
”My speed, quickness and smarts will win me this fight. Victor checks out sometimes when he can’t hit you,” said Alexander.
Alexander has a decent chance of beating the southpaw Ortiz if he uses his boxing skills, and doesn’t let him have a stationary target. Ortiz falls apart when he’s hit hard to the head. I wouldn’t be surprised if Alexander knocks Ortiz out in the first 2 rounds if he hits him hard with some combinations. Ortiz comes unglued quickly when his opponents puts their punches together early. It doesn’t always take combinations to knock Ortiz out. Collazo knocked out Ortiz in the 2nd round with single shots. Ortiz couldn’t handle it.
Alexander has looked pretty awful in his losses to Amir Khan, Aaron Martinez and Shawn Porter. The way Alexander fought in those fights, he looked like a guy way past his prime.
Also on the Ortiz vs. Alexander card, super middleweight contender Caleb Plant (16-0, 10 KOs) faces former world title challenger Rogelio Medina (38-8, 32 KOs) in what is said to be a world title eliminator bout. Presumably, that would be for the International Boxing Federation super middleweight title, which is currently held by Caleb Truax. The No.1 and No.2 spots are vacant right now. IBF interim super middleweight champion Andre Dirrell will be fighting #3 IBF Jose Uzcategui in a rematch soon. The winner of that fight will be fighting for the IBF belt sooner or later. It’s unclear when the winner of the Plant vs. Medina fight will compete for the IBF title. We’re probably looking at 2019 at the earliest unless is a deal is made for the winner of that fight to get a quick title shot.
Plant, 25, hasn’t looked all that impressive in his recent wins against Andrew Hernandez, Thomas Awimbono and Juan De Angel. Plant has been facing marginal opposition, and he’s not really distinguished himself in those fights. Plant is easy to hit, slow and not particularly powerful. Medina might beat Plant. It wouldn’t be that much of a stunner of that happens. Medina has lost a lot of fights recently to David Benavidez, James DeGale, Jonathan Gonzalez and Badou Jack. With all the losses that Medina has suffered in the last 5 years, it’s unknown why the IBF would have him fight in an eliminator against Plant. That’s a real head-scratcher. Medina has lost 2 out of his last 4 fights. His wins have come against these fighters:
• Daniel Eudardo Yocupicio (6-41-2)
• Ramon Olivas (13-4)
• Samuel Miller (29-10)
• Luis Acevedo (20-15-5)
In another fight on the Ortiz vs. Alexander card, light middleweight Tony Harrison (25-2, 20 KOs) faces Jorge Cota (27-2, 24 KOs).