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Victor Ortiz Must Choose His Identity

Published

12 years ago

June 24, 2012

Lee Wylie

006 Ortiz ice on jaw IMG 1203 A few observations about the Victor Ortiz-Josesito Lopez fight from last night:

When I look at Victor Ortiz, I see a confused fighter. A fighter who suffers from an identity crisis every single time he climbs into the ring. Whether this is his own doing, or that of his trainer, Danny Garcia, remains unclear. What is clear to me however, is that technical flaws in his game are the primary reason behind his recent lapses. Ortiz lacks discipline in the ring, not heart. Yes, Muhammad Ali may have continued with a broken jaw against Ken Norton, but come on, we are talking about Muhammad Ali here , whose toughness -when his career was all said and done- may have even eclipsed his talent. Besides, Ali later admitted to not knowing his jaw was indeed broken. Had he known, he later declared, then he too would have quit on his stool.

No, I don't blame Ortiz for quitting on his stool last night. Nor do I blame him for opting not to continue when confronted with a marauding Marcos Maidana, who was putting such a beating on a young fighter, that no good could possibly have came from it -not in victory,not in defeat. The blame lies elsewhere.

At the highest level, I believe boxing comes down to geometry. Of course, there are more tangibles involved in the sweet science than just technical expertise, but last night, as I have done every time when watching Victor Ortiz, I saw technical deficiencies in a young fighter.

Firstly, Victor Ortiz is a converted southpaw. His right hand, which is his lead hand, is his dominant hand. Last night, Ortiz resembled a southpaw, his stance was the same, but the substance within the style was missing. Ortiz came out boxing behind his jab, a weapon I've seldom seen from him. If a southpaw is to box behind his jab, he should be circling counter-clockwise, looking to plant his lead foot outside of an orthodox fighters lead foot. Ortiz failed to do so on many occasion last night. Throughout the fight, Ortiz found himself moving onto his orthodox opponent's right hand. Not that Lopez bothered to throw it much. In all honesty, I'm not sure I've seen a southpaw defeated where the straight right hand featured so little. Lopez didn't need it. Also, being a converted fighter, Ortiz struggles to achieve any real snap when he throw his left hand. Ortiz tends to push is out, rather than launch it with any real conviction. Have you ever tried throwing something with your weaker hand? Something just doesn't feel right does it? I sense that Ortiz goes through this every time he throws his straight left. He goes through the motions with it, but he is not comfortable throwing it. It just doesn't feel natural. Neither does syncing his upper body with his lower body. So many times during fights,Ortiz finds himself with his left leg in front of his right leg. Ortiz is right handed….he's probably also right footed.

Unlike true southpaws, Ortiz' primary weapon is actually his right hook. In there lies the problem. In order to land it, Ortiz has to concede his southpaw stance to throw it. This is the reason why you see Ortiz square himself up to an opponent over and over again. Lopez did his homework. That's why the uppercut and left hook worked a treat last night. Every time Ortiz closed the distance, Lopez would position himself to throw his right uppercut, which then created the perfect angle for his left hook outside of Ortiz' line of vision. Ortiz, with his feet parallel with his shoulders, could only defend himself with his jaw.

It's not just in technique where Ortiz seems to lose his discipline neither. Take another look at the shot that ended the fight for Ortiz. It landed flush on Ortiz' jaw, who just happened to have his mouth wide open. As I'm sure you are all aware, this is a big no no in boxing. I bet there's boxing trainers all over the world scratching their heads at the fact that an elite fighter could make such an amateurish mistake.

“Vicious” Victor Ortiz is not a bad fighter, but he, or his trainer,needs to decide what works best for him. His best performance was against Andre Berto, a fight where Ortiz didn't really bother working behind a jab. He swarmed and pressured Berto into a fight. Last night, looking to box behind his jab, Ortiz appeared lost in translation. Let's take nothing away from Lopez, who fought a fantastic fight. He took advantage of the gaping holes in Ortiz' arsenal, and made them work to his advantage. But for me, this was all about what Ortiz failed to do, rather than what Lopez managed to do. Truth be told, the fight was close, which suggests that all is not entirely lost with Ortiz, even if his proposed super fight with Canelo Alvarez seems to be.

However, Ortiz' lack of discipline needs addressing and fast.He must choose his true identity: Is he a boxer? Is he a slugger?

If he can iron out the technical flaws, then maybe nobody will get the chance to question Ortiz' heart again.

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Lee Wylie

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2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

9 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

The WBC World Super Featherweight title bout between Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura came on one of the biggest boxing stages of 2015, as the bout served as the HBO pay-per-view’s co-main event on November 21st, in support of Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez.

Miura entered the fight with a (29-2-2) record and he was making the fifth defense of his world title, while Vargas entered the fight with an undefeated mark of (22-0-1) in what was his first world title fight. Both men had a reputation for all-out fighting, with Miura especially earning high praise for his title defense in Mexico where he defeated Sergio Thompson in a fiercely contested battle.

The fight started out hotly contested, and the intensity never let up. Vargas seemed to win the first two rounds, but by the fourth round, Miura seemed to pull ahead, scoring a knock-down and fighting with a lot of confidence. After brawling the first four rounds, Miura appeared to settle into a more technical approach. Rounds 5 and 6 saw the pendulum swing back towards Vargas, as he withstood Miura’s rush to open the fifth round and the sixth round saw both men exchanging hard punches.

The big swinging continued, and though Vargas likely edged Miura in rounds 5 and 6, Vargas’ face was cut in at least two spots and Miura started to assert himself again in rounds 7 and 8. Miura was beginning to grow in confidence while it appeared that Vargas was beginning to slow down, and Miura appeared to hurt Vargas at the end of the 8th round.

Vargas turned the tide again at the start of the ninth round, scoring a knock down with an uppercut and a straight right hand that took Miura’s legs and sent him to the canvas. Purely on instinct, Miura got back up and continued to fight, but Vargas was landing frequently and with force. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight at the halfway point of round 9 as Miura was sustaining a barrage of punches.

Miura still had a minute and a half to survive if he was going to get out of the round, and it was clear that he was not going to stop fighting.

A back and forth battle of wills between two world championship level fighters, Takashi Miura versus “El Bandido” Vargas wins the 2015 Fight of the Year.

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Jan 9 in Germany – Feigenbutz and De Carolis To Settle Score

Published

9 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

This coming Saturday, January 9th, the stage is set at the Baden Arena in Offenburg, Germany for a re-match between Vincent Feigenbutz and Giovanni De Carolis. The highly anticipated re-match is set to air on SAT.1 in Germany, and Feigenbutz will once again be defending his GBU and interim WBA World titles at Super Middleweight.

The first meeting between the two was less than three months ago, on October 17th and that meeting saw Feigenbutz controversially edge De Carolis on the judge’s cards by scores of (115-113, 114-113 and 115-113). De Carolis scored a flash knock down in the opening round, and he appeared to outbox Feigenbutz in the early going, but the 20 year old German champion came on in the later rounds.

The first bout is described as one of the most crowd-pleasing bouts of the year in Germany, and De Carolis and many observers felt that the Italian had done enough to win.

De Carolis told German language website RAN.DE that he was more prepared for the re-match, and that due to the arrogance Feigenbutz displayed in the aftermath of the first fight, he was confident that he had won over some of the audience. Though De Carolis fell short of predicting victory, he promised a re-vamped strategy tailored to what he has learned about Feigenbutz, whom he termed immature and inexperienced.

The stage is set for Feigenbutz vs De Carolis 2, this Saturday January 9th in Offenburg, Germany. If you can get to the live event do it, if not you have SAT.1 in Germany airing the fights, and The Boxing Channel right back here for full results.

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2015 Knock Out of the Year – Saul Alvarez KO’s James Kirkland

Published

9 years ago

December 29, 2015

The Sweet Science

On May 9th of 2015, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez delivered a resonant knock-out of James Kirkland on HBO that wins the 2015 KO of the Year.

The knock-out itself came in the third round, after slightly more than two minutes of action. The end came when Alvarez delivered a single, big right hand that caught Kirkland on the jaw and left him flat on his back after spinning to the canvas.Alvarez was clearly the big star heading into the fight. The fight was telecast by HBO for free just one week after the controversial and disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, and Alvarez was under pressure to deliver the type of finish that people were going to talk about. Kirkland was happy to oblige Alvarez, taking it right to Alvarez from the start. Kirkland’s aggression saw him appear to land blows that troubled the young Mexican in the early going. Alvarez played good defense, and he floored Kirkland in the first round, displaying his power and his technique in knocking down an aggressive opponent.

However, Kirkland kept coming at Alvarez and the fight entered the third round with both men working hard and the feeling that the fight would not go the distance. Kirkland continued to move forward, keeping “Canelo” against the ropes and scoring points with a barrage of punches while looking for an opening.

At around the two minute mark, Alvarez landed an uppercut that sent Kirkland to the canvas again. Kirkland got up, but it was clear that he did not have his legs under him. Kirkland was going to try to survive the round, but Alvarez had an opportunity to close out the fight. The question was would he take it?

Alvarez closed in on Kirkland, putting his opponent’s back to the ropes. Kirkland was hurt, but he was still dangerous, pawing with punches and loading up for one big shot.

But it was the big shot “Canelo” threw that ended the night. Kirkland never saw it coming, as he was loading up with a huge right hand of his own. The right Alvarez threw cracked Kirkland in the jaw, and his eyes went blank. His big right hand whizzed harmlessly over the head of a ducking Alvarez, providing the momentum for the spin that left Kirkland prone on the canvas.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez went on to defeat Miguel Cotto in his second fight of 2015 and he is clearly one of boxing’s biggest stars heading into 2016. On May 9th Alvarez added another reel to his highlight film when he knocked out James Kirkland with the 2015 “Knock Out of the Year”.

Photo by naoki fukuda

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