GBP in DC March 5 – Ortiz Stops Thompson in 6th

Ortiz Stops Thompson – Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions were at the DC Armory in Washington D.C. this Saturday night with a full nine fight boxing card that saw the main events air on HBO.

The feature fight of the evening saw undefeated (24-0) Cuban Heavyweight Luis Ortiz taking on 44 year old veteran Tony Thompson (40-6). Thompson, a cagey southpaw who has extended his career by making younger fighters look bad and had taken the fight on relatively short notice entered the fight with nothing to lose. Ortiz came out looking focused from the start, and the pre-fight rhetoric told Ortiz he was under pressure to stop Thompson. After a slow start to the fight, Ortiz landed what appeared to be a glancing punch at roughly the two minute mark that sent Thompson to the canvas. Thompson survived to the end of the round. Thompson’s style took back the fight in round two, as he lulled Ortiz into less activity.

Round three was more of the same, as Thompson made Ortiz work. Ortiz landed a big right at the end of the round that sent Thompson down to the canvas a second time.

Thompson was able to play his game in the fourth and fifth round, as Ortiz was likely ahead on the cards by a wide margin, but the Cuban was starting to show signs of frustration. Ortiz continued to show frustration in round six, but he broke through and sent Thompson down to the canvas a third time. The referee stopped the fight at the 2:29 mark of the sixth round.

In the welterweight co-feature, the vacant WBO World title was on the line between undefeated 22-0 Sadam Ali and Jessie Vargas (26-1). The two men were very evenly matched, as Vargas moved forward against Ali, who was a bit smaller in stature. Ali however, was the more accurate puncher, but there were few meaningful exchanges and some of the fighting was sloppy. The judges could have gone either way through the first six rounds.

Ali was beginning to swell around the eyes, and he was backing up and throwing less. Vargas landed a solid shot that sent Ali down to the canvas near the end of the round. Ali started out the 9th round in bad shape, and Vargas stayed on him, scoring another knockdown and getting the referee to step in and stop it at the 2:09 mark. Vargas is now the WBO World Welterweight champion.

Oscar Escandon defeated Robinson Castellanos for the interim WBC World Featherweight title, getting up off the canvas in round 2 to earn the stoppage victory in Round 7.

The complete results for the card appear below.

March 5th, 2016 – DC Armory
Washington D.C.

COMPLETE RESULTS:

Heavyweight 12 Rd: Luis Ortiz over Tony Thompson by TKO at 2:29 of RD 6.
Welterweight 12 Rd: Jessie Vargas over Sadam Ali by TKO @2:09 of RD 9.
Featherweight 12 Rd: Oscar Escandon over Robinson castellanos by KO in RD 7.
Lightweight 8 Rd: Lamont Roach Jr over Jesus Lule via UD.
Light Heavy 6 Rd: D’Mitrius Ballard over Leosvy Mayedo via TKO @1:40 of RD 2.
Featherweight 6 Rd: Kevin Rivers Jr over Angel Aispuro via TKO @2:16 of RD 6.
Super Light 6 Rd: Zachary Ochoa over Rosbel Montoya (60-54,60-54,59-55)
Lightweight 6 Rd: Damon Allen over Daniel Perales via UD (60-54,60-54,60-54)
Cruiserweight 6 Rd: Todd Unthank May over Alexander Johnson via UD (59-55,58-55,59-53)

Check out a video with Montell Griffin talking about Luis Ortiz at The Boxing Channel

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