Berto vs. Ortiz 2 to take place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles

By Boxing News - 04/04/2012 - Comments

Image: Berto vs. Ortiz 2 to take place at the Staples Center in Los AngelesBy Sean McDaniel: The June 23rd rematch between former WBC welterweight champions Andre Berto (28-1, 22 KO’s) and Victor Ortiz (29-3-2, 22 KO’s) will be staged at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, according to news from Dan Rafael.

It was kind of a no brainer of a venue, as Ortiz is the California boy and was raised in the area. He’s got a big fans base in the area and putting the fight in the 21,000 seat arena at the Staples Center could ensure that the fight sells out or at least sells enough tickets for the fighters to make some good money from their non-title bout.

Ortiz, 25, beat Berto by a 12 round unanimous decision in April of last year in one of the most exciting fights of 2011. Ortiz captured Berto’s World Boxing Council welterweight title in that bout. However, Ortiz lost it in his first defense against Floyd Mayweather Jr. last September. Ortiz got flustered in the fight when things weren’t going this way and he responded in a negative manner by head-butting Mayweather. It eventually led to Ortiz losing one point and then getting stopped in the same round.

Berto, 28, won his last fight against IBF welterweight champion Jan Zaveck to briefly grab the International Boxing Federation title. Berto ended up vacating the belt rather than holding onto it to be burdened with defending the strap.

Recently, Berto suffered a serious injury to his left biceps while sparring. The injury is a tricky one because it was the same injury that Berto suffered two years ago in 2010. His arm needed surgery to repair the problem at the time. However, this time Berto is going without surgery after seeking out a second opinion. But with injury like that, Berto could suffer a setback while in training and we might not see the June 23rd fight take place on that date. Frankly, I’d be very surprised if the fight takes place in June because I think Berto will hurt his arm again and need more time.



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