By Cliff Rold
2010 ended without any one fight that was so blow away, so obvious, as the year’s best. There was plenty of good but the candidates for great were in short supply.
Judging simply by the action in the ring, 2011 is off to a better start. Based on the sort of action in the last three weeks, 2011 may already have 2010 beat. In the last three weeks, four fights have given fans the sort of action, and memories, that remind of a simple truth.
When it gets it right, there is no sport greater.
Let’s go to the report card.
Pre-Fight: Speed – Berto A; Ortiz B+/Post: Same
Pre-Fight: Power – Berto B; Ortiz B+/Post: B+; B+
Pre-Fight: Defense – Berto B; Ortiz B/Post: C; B-
Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Berto B+; Ortiz C/Post: B+; A
The only one of the two big U.S. TV Saturday main events given report card treatment last week (more on that boo-boo in a bit), Victor Ortiz (29-2-2, 22 KO) winning the WBC Welterweight belt, in a fight where both he and Andre Berto (27-1, 21 KO) came off the floor twice, exceeded all expectations.
If the second half of the fight had been as good as the first, it might well have put Fight of the Year voting to bed. It wasn’t. There trend in all of the fantastic foursome of fights in the last three weeks, something they have all had in common.
The action is perfectly satisfying. None has yet given fans a perfect ending. How so? Well:
• Luis Concepcion came off the floor in round ten to hurt Hernan Marquez before the bell…only to have the doctor end his night;
• Erik Morales won the crowd but fell short on the cards against Marcos Maidana, keeping it just shy of the euphoria of a fight like Duran-Barkley even if the comparison remains valid;
• Berto and Ortiz slowed down, and referee Michael Ortega got way too involved, in a fight bogged down by clinches late; and,
• Juan Manuel Lopez was stopped while he was still conscious, a disappointment for some who wonder if the valiant Puerto Rican might have had a miracle left in him.
Lopez (30-1, 27 KO) probably didn’t. The stoppage was one of those awkward moments where the referee did the right thing at a time that left room for doubt. Mexico’s Orlando Salido (35-11-2, 23 KO), on the road, started laying a hiding on the now dethroned WBO Featherweight titlist Lopez in the fourth, dropped him in the fifth, shelled him some more in six, and endured a seventh round rally which was more heart than hurt.
This wasn’t Lopez and Rogers Mtagwa where, after trading rough moments, he had to survive the final critical frame of a war. Lopez had four plus rounds more ahead if Salido didn’t find a ten-count nuke in his arsenal. It wasn’t worth anyone else being brave with Lopez’s body.
This scribe saw Salido as a solid but sure win for Lopez going in. The only people who got it more wrong were Lopez’s matchmakers. The veteran deserves all the praise in the world and may have, given the number of losses he’s already accrued, just emerged as a sort of Featherweight Glen Johnson.
More of that is never a bad thing.
However, talk of the Lopez loss destroying a showdown with unified Featherweight titlist Yuriorkis Gamboa is preposterous. Gamboa just beat Salido fairly easy, if rough, last year. No one is begging to see that again.
Top Rank, Gamboa and Lopez’s shared promoter, has been here before. Once upon a time, the long-range plan was a clash between U.S. Olympian Michael Carbajal and Chiquita Gonzalez. The dream was the first million dollar Jr. Flyweight fight.
The dream was delayed by a shocking Gonzalez loss to Rolando Pascua. Delayed, but not denied. Gonzalez didn’t even have to avenge that loss. He beat the man who beat Pascua and got right back on track. Gamboa-Lopez can still happen, and still be huge.
It just needs time. Since it was going to get a bunch more of that anyways, this really doesn’t change a thing.
As to the Welterweight action, Ortiz answered all the questions about his heart and further showed off the flaws of Berto that have been prevalent for a long time. Berto barely survived Luis Collazo and was nearly stopped by Cosme Rivera. His whiskers aren’t as big as his heart.
That doesn’t mean Berto couldn’t win a rematch. He can clearly hurt Ortiz. However, he needs to deal with the size disadvantage better. Despite coming up in weight division, Ortiz was the bigger, stronger man. He’s taller and has a wider frame than Berto. It showed, as Ortiz owned the clinches most of the night. Berto’s holding, and too frequent complaining in spots, exhibited that Ortiz’s strength hadn’t been prepared for.
For now, the shine is on Ortiz and the 24-year old adds his second sensational HBO appearance after losing the 2009 classic with Maidana that raised so much skepticism. No one will be skeptical about Ortiz going forward.
The largely moribund Welterweights, a rudderless ship with two superstars fighting everyone but each other, just got a needed dose of life.
Report Card Picks 2011: 11-4
Ratings Impact
Welterweight: Victor Ortiz crashes the ratings in a big way while Berto slips. If Ortiz can’t get into the race for a crack at Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather, a rematch could see them trade places again.
Jr. Welterweight: Ortiz’s Welterweight win removes him from the Jr. Welterweight ranks, making room for Lucas Matthysse at #10. Matthysse has a critical showdown with former divisional titlist Devon Alexander coming up this summer. Amir Khan won, as expected, versus Paul McCloskey. The fight mostly stunk but paved the way for Khan-Timothy Bradley. That’s good enough.
Featherweight: Chris John’s win over Daud Yordan sees him keep the top spot and, based on reports of a quality performance from Yordan, he maintains his spot in the ratings as well. Salido jumps to third, just behind Gamboa.
All the biggest results and subsequent updates are a page away.
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel, the Yahoo Pound for Pound voting panel, and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com