By Ronnie Nathanielsz
At the request of the promoter of the WBO mini-flyweight title fight between champion Kosei Tanaka of Japan and Vic Saludar of the Philippines, WBO president Francisco "Paco" Valcarcel has assigned Michael Ortega to take over from originally assigned female referee Sparkle Lee.
WBO Asia Pacific head Leon Panoncillo informed the New Standard/BoxingScene.com that “the change was at the request of the promoter to utilize the officials already there (in Japan) on other world title fights.”
The Tanaka-Saludar championship bout will take place in Nagoya on New Year’s eve.
In fact Ortega had earlier been appointed third man in the ring for the WBO super flyweight title defense of Naoya Inoue against Filipino challenger Warlito Parrenas in Tokyo on December 29.
Referee Ortega was in Manila in May 2012 and handled the WBO flyweight title bout in which Brian Viloria scored a 9th round TKO over Omar Nino Romero at the Ynarws Center in Pasig City.
He also served as referee in the middleweight title fight between Gennady Golovkin and Daniel Geale and has done a number of big fights.
Ortega who is from Connecticut is the son of the late 1950’s early 1960’s welterweight contender Gaspar Ortega.
