By Ian S. Palmer
Victor Ortiz will be taking on Josesito Lopez on June 23 at Los Angeles’ Staples
Center for the vacant WBC Silver Welterweight Championship. Ortiz was originally
supposed to duel it out in a rematch of last year’s unanimous decision over Andre
Berto in the ‘fight of the year’, but that was shelved after Berto failed a drug
test.
This is a huge fight for Ortiz, the former WBC Welterweight Champion, since he’s
tentatively scheduled to meet Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in mid-September. The
25-year-old southpaw from Oxnard, California will have to look impressive against
Lopez if he hopes to garner any public interest in a fight against Alvarez, the WBC
Jr. Middleweight Champion.
Ortiz (29-3-2-22 KOs) needs to make sure he doesn’t look past the 27-year-old Lopez
of Riverside, California in this fight though since he’s not a bad fighter at 29-4
with 17 KOs. However, he did lose his last fight, which was a 10-round split
decision to Jessie Vargas last September. Ortiz also lost his last bout when Floyd
Mayweather stopped him in four controversial rounds the same night Lopez lost.
This could be the chance of a lifetime for Lopez and he probably realizes it. He
should come at Ortiz with both hands blazing and give it all he has. Ortiz, as we
know, likes to brawl it out and has been dropped to the canvas on more than one
occasion. Ortiz is definitely going to be motivated too since the fight against
Canelo may not take place if he loses to Lopez. There’s a lot of money and fame at
stake for him here.
Lopez has fought some decent boxers over the years such as Vargas, Anthony Mora,
Marvin Cordova, Mike Dallas Jr., and Edgar Santana, who also beat him by majority
decision in 2008. But he hasn’t fought at the upper level, which is where Ortiz has
been for the past few years by fighting the likes of Berto, Mayweather, Lamont
Peterson, Nate Campbell, Vivian Harris, Marcos Maidana, Antonio Diaz. This will
definitely be a step up in class for Lopez.
When Ortiz is motivated and focused he’s pretty tough to beat. He had a good amateur
career and is an underrated boxer. The southpaw stance might give Lopez some trouble
too. Both men are relatively small for the weight division with Ortiz measuring in
at 5-foot-9 and Lopez at 5-foot-10. Ortiz has a one-inch reach advantage which won’t
count for anything.
Ortiz is tough, young, and exciting and it will be considered an upset if he loses
to Lopez. If his chin holds out he should be able to stop Lopez in the second half
of the fight and guarantee his date with Alvarez in September. Lopez should give him
a decent challenge though and will have his moments during the fight.
