At the StubHub Center, California, Ortiz vs Berto II was lively enough to get chins wagging here at BB, but didn’t live up to its far too lofty expectations following their original 2011 Fight of the Year. Tonight’s sequel wasn’t awful, but Andre Berto’s 4th round TKO of Victor Ortiz told us a lot about the mental strengths and mindsets of these all-action Welterweights.
Victor Ortiz now reduces to 35 wins, 6 defeats, 2 draws, 24 knockouts, while Andre Berto returns to winning ways, since being outclassed by Floyd Mayweather last September, climbing up to 31 wins, 4 defeats, 23 knockouts.
The opening round was a tentative one which saw the California crowd letting their boos be heard, but the drama soon arrived after Ortiz received a nasty cut on his hairline following an accidental head butt. The action got a lot more fiery from there, with a fleet-footed Ortiz out-boxing his old foe in the next two stanzas, and scoring a flash knockdown courtesy of a left in the 2nd.
Ortiz soon found himself back in the trenches – as we’ve seen plenty of times throughout his turbulent career – and once again seemed to go to pieces. It was a Berto right uppercut in the 4th that started it all, with the crunching blow evening the knockdown tally. Ortiz beat the count but was immediately smothered by Berto, and dropped for the second and final time in the fight not long after.
Ortiz just about beat the count (dangerously late) and was then asked by the referee if he wanted to continue. Ortiz, who seemed to have no fight left in him, despondently looked away, giving the referee permission to call it as he saw it. So the referee did, waving off the action and supplying Berto the revenge victory he’d been craving for some time.
Where Ortiz goes from here should be interesting, but it’s likely he’s ultimately headed toward solid gatekeeper territory, which is unfortunate given he’s still just 29-years-old. The hunger just doesn’t seem to be there anymore, so all those doubts surrounding his desire to re-enter the mix among today’s top Welterweights seems to be warranted. As for Berto, the future is looking much brighter, but he’s of course thrust himself back into another deep and crowded 147-pound scene. Check out BB’s Welterweight Top 10.
Give us your verdict on Ortiz vs Berto II, plus the rest of the California fight card in the comments.
