By: Danny Kendrick
Never one to disappoint for lack of action or drama in his fights, Victor Ortiz (29-4-2, 22 KOs) showed up looking primed for his September 15th showdown with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez. For the most part, Ortiz’s strength and speed advantage was getting the job done against a smaller and slightly slower opponent in Josesito Lopez (30-4, 18 KOs), even hurting Lopez in the early part of the fight with his straight left and follow-up right hook, which put Berto down twice. The early drama came in the 5th when Ortiz’s widely whispered dirty tactics came through in an illegal punch to the back of the head which appeared blatant, but he was only given a warning for the foul.
Lopez came back strong, surprisingly, and the action resumed at the same furious pace that define Victor Ortiz’s “knock down/drag outs”. Once the 9th rolled around, Ortiz had the lead on the scorecards, as expected, but that script got flipped in the last 10 seconds of the round when Lopez caught Ortiz with a monster right hook flush on the left jaw of Ortiz. A few more punches were exchanged and Ortiz appeared to be okay as the bell rang to end the round. Apparently, things weren’t as kosher as they appeared.
The big right hook he got drilled with in the final exchange wound up breaking Ortiz’s jaw and he wasn’t able to continue into the 10th round and Lopez walked away with the huge TKO upset.For Ortiz, it’s a major setback given how his fight with Mayweather ended and “No Mas” reminiscent outing against Marcos Maidana. Had he walked away with the win and gone on to lose to Canelo, which most were anticipating, it wouldn’t have been nearly as much of a setback, but this could be potentially devastating for his career. Let’s hope it isn’t.
