Berto-Ortiz: A Shot at Greatness or a Shot at the Last Chance Salloon?

By Boxing News - 04/13/2011 - Comments

By Chris Kelly: We are now all but sure to see the WBC version of the welterweight crown contested this year between the undefeated champion Andre Berto and the touted prospect Victor Ortiz. Many have deemed this clash to be the coming-out party of the eventual winner, claiming he is sure to rise to superstardom – whomever it may be. This may be a premature and somewhat naive conclusion to arrive at. It may in fact be a more accurate analogy to say this represents the end of the line for the loser.

Whilst a win for either man would afford him the required excuses to continue playing the part of the hot prospect and future star, the loser would likely be out of chances. This may be the case for Ortiz more so having already incurred a number of blemishes on his record in the form of two losses and two draws including his infamous disgracing of himself in retiring against the heavy hitting Marcos Maidana. Many boxing fans however have also grown tired of Florida born Haitian Andre Berto’s apparently weak choice of opponents. Neither man can afford to appear unable to compete at this level.

Berto, 27, has received a lot of bad press of late over his opponents from the media who are perhaps overlooking some of his more notable scalps including Juan Urango, Steve Forbes, Luiz Collazo and Carlos Quintana (who between the three have shared a ring with Oscar De la Hoya, Paul Williams, Ricky Hatton and Devon Alexander) almost all of whom were all favored heading into their respective meetings with the Haitian. Having said this, Berto’s resume is certainly lacking the career defining fights that serve as the mark of a great champion.

Ortiz, a publicly hyped prospect at the start of his career, has failed to make any impact on the junior welterweight division. Having proven himself unable to compete with the World’s elite at this division (Amir Khan, Timothy Bradley, Maidana, Alexander or probably even Andriy Kotelnik, Paul McCloskey, Paulie Malignaggi or Holt) and only managing to box his way to a lack luster draw against Lamont Peterson, he has been rewarded with the opportunity to stroll straight into the Welterweight Division for a summer clash with the unbeaten WBC Champion.

This being the division of mega stars such as Americans Floyd Mayweather Jr, “Sugar” Shane Mosley and Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao.

The fact that Ortiz has been able to leap frog over the likes of undefeated contenders such as Mike Jones, Seluck Aydin and Viacheslav Senchenko or classy operators such as Randall Bailey, Jan Zaveck or British and Intercontinental Champion Kell Brook can be attributed in no small part to Oscar De la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions who have invested heavily in the Californian’s career.

It remains to be seen what success awaits the winner, for Berto this is perhaps the proposed clash with Shane Mosley depending on the outcome of his meeting in May with pound for pound star Manny Pacquiao or even a mega fight deal against the cash cow Floyd Mayweather. For Ortiz a win could provide the opportunity to redeem himself in the eyes of the boxing public with possible re-matches against Argentine Maidana or Amir Khan after being knocked out by the WBA Champion as an amateur. What is certain is that a loss here would do spectacular damage to either man’s career. Damage that could prove irreparable.

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