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Ortiz's hell-bent style works against him, despite three knockdowns, as Maidana stops him in six
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Victor Ortiz was transformed from the next Oscar De La Hoya to the next Ray Mancini before our very eyes Saturday. Ortiz knocked down Marcos Rene Maidana three times in the first two rounds – but suffered a sixth-round loss by technical knockout.
You folks who think a knockdown, drag-out brawl is the best that boxing offers got your wish, as Ortiz lost primarily because he failed to turn a thrilling slugfest into a one-sided boxing match and flailed himself out of serious contention in the junior welterweight class. With a large, enthusiastic crowd at Staples Center in Los Angeles egging the Oxnard-based fighter on, he went for the knockout, and it was a costly decision.
It was a sensational fight that HBO will show again at 10:15 on its West Coast feed, with the five knockdowns and the handsome, lovable Ortiz wounded around both eyes and unable to see the punches coming. And then unwilling to risk going out on his back.
Ortiz (24-2), a left-hander, scored the three knockdowns with right hooks as he appeared too quick for the Argentine. But after scoring the first, midway through the first round, he almost immediately, carelessly, inexcusably went down himself from a huge right. Later, his failure to impose a jab-and-move fight on his less-polished opponent, after taking a four-point lead after four rounds, was particularly foolish, considering his inability to consistently avoid Maidana’s go-for-broke punches.
“The crowd did get to me,” Ortiz said. “I usually stay composed.”
The first time Maidana (26-1, 25 knockouts) landed a decent left, it turned the fight around in the fifth, opening a gash alongside Ortiz’s right eye. Ortiz fought on, because the rock-em-sock-em robot lovers insist on that, but he was already drowning. He got knocked down in the sixth, got up and pressed on briefly, but he clearly considered himself fully vanquished at that point.
“I was hurt,” Ortiz conceded. “I’d be lying if I said no. He packs a lot of power.”
Ortiz managed to project that magic Hollywood grin despite the unhappy ending. If he learns how to defend himself properly, he can come back.
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