By Chris Robinson
Boxing is the theatre of the unexpected and this past weekend we saw two of the game's promising champions upset as WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto and WBO featherweight king Juan Manuel Lopez both fell to brave Mexicans in dramatic fashion. Berto was edged over twelve wild, knockdown-filled rounds by 24-year old Victor Ortiz while miles away on the island of Puerto Rico Lopez would be upended by former champion Orlando Salido, who dropped him hard in the 5th round before finishing him off controversially in the 8th.
HBO analyst Larry Merchant was present inside of the the MGM Grand Theatre at the Foxwoods Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut for the scintillating Berto-Ortiz affair and had much praise for the fight. But before dissecting the importance of Ortiz's triumph, I asked Larry what he thought when he had heard about Lopez's defeat and he wasn't one to overreact.
"He can go have a rematch, he can win the rematch, and he can move on. Fighters lose fights. It's not the end of the world. It's like getting knocked down in a fight. It's what you do next," Merchant pointed out with his opening statements to me for our weekly column.
Bob Arum had been building the hype towards a Lopez standoff against deft-defying WBA champion Yuriorkis Gamboa, a clash rumored to be landing in Las Vegas next summer, but this latest turn of events has turned everything upside down. Lopez-Gamboa may one day happen but for now it is just an afterthought, Merchant insists.
"I think it's going to be pushed back," Larry continued. "It shows what happens when you let the fight cook. It's the same deal with Mayweather and Pacquiao. The longer you wait the more likely it is that something is going to happen. I don't know how sure they are that they want that fight. One guy is a popular fighter and draws crowds while the other guy is getting to be a better and better fighter and he doesn't draw crowds. Why would you want the fighters who draws crowds to get knocked off?"
Just as Lopez will have a bit of soul-searching to do, so too will young Berto, who saw his 27-0 record with 21 knockouts get blemished for the first time in his barn burner with Ortiz. So, what exactly stood out to Merchant as he watched the action unfold from ringside?
"I think it was one of those thrilling events that we go through the ordinary events to get to," Merchant pointed out. "And secondly, the importance of the fight and what it might do for Ortiz and whether he turns out to be an elite, serious prime time fighter. But whatever the case, there's certainly going to be some big fights for him down the road."
For all of his explosiveness and raw talent, Berto had gained a reputation as a prizefighter who hadn't fully been through the ringer yet because of his lack of world-class opposition up to this point. Merchant feels that the soft matchmaking prior was a huge part of Berto's demise on Saturday night.
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"Well, he came back in the fight," Merchant said, giving respect to Berto. "He got knocked down twice and he came back. And again it's 'What does he do?'. Did he get exposed in this fight? He's been fed a lot of ordinary fighters and he hadn't been very active. I think it's not surprising that when he was faced with a really aggressive, go-for-it opponent, that he didn't know how to handle it. It's because he didn't have enough tough competition and that's who he is and let's see how they try to revive him, restore him."
The landscape of the sport has once again been shifted as Berto and Lopez now have a whole new proving ground in front of them. While plans of many may have been set back, Merchant's final comments shed light as to why moments like this ultimately keep the sport alive.
"We've had a whole series of upsets and occurrences in the last two weekends. And it shakes things up and that's good. Just as fans and promoters and writers shouldn't be going to every event with expectations that are always met. There has to be a certain amount of uncertainty and that lends drama to every fight and shows you how tough it is even when it looks easy on paper."