By Robert Morales
Victor Ortiz was stopped in the sixth round by Marcos Maidana in a brutal fight in June 2009 at Staples Center. Ortiz has gone 4-0-1 with three knockouts since then. But Andre Berto still has a question about Ortiz's courage because of his body language at the time of the TKO loss to Maidana, which officially was stopped because of a cut over Ortiz's right eye and a black and blue lump under his left eye.
Berto, like some experts, isn't so sure Ortiz wanted to continue in that fight. Some have gone so far as to suggest Ortiz quit because after he hit the canvas for the second time in the fight in the sixth round, it appeared he perhaps wasn't so sure he wanted to go on. Referee Raul Caiz made the decision to stop the fight on the advice of the ringside physician.
"What showed in the Maidana fight, maybe he feels like he has a lot more to prove and he's willing to die to prove it," said Berto, who will defend his welterweight world title against Ortiz tonight at Foxwoods in Mashantucket, Conn. (HBO). "I have a heart of a lion ... where it comes from, how I'm built."
"There's no question about my heart. I have to question his on everything from one situation. When he had to endure controversy, he didn't like to crack back. At the end of the day, you can't teach what beats in the chest. You either have it - heart - or you don't.
"[This] is going to be a reality check for him. They've been lying to him at training camp thinking this is going to be an easy fight. The ring is really a cold place to find that out. Like he said, the fight won't go the distance, only it's going to come out on our side."
