Where does Victor Ortiz go from here?

[rochemback]

I am a big fan of Victor Ortiz, he has all the skills he needs to make it really big, and he has incredible power. And unlike a lot of others, I dig his friendly and at times goofy personality, he's a cool guy as far as I'm concerned.

That said, I was incredibly disappointed with his performance against Lamont Peterson. In no way he got robbed, I had it a 94-94 draw, only because Ortiz stole an exciting 10th round. Rounds 5-9 were all Peterson (together with the 2nd, so I had it 4-6 in rounds), in my opinion.
Granted, Lamont Peterson is a very good boxer, but Ortiz is considered to be a top 5 junior welter (together with Khan, Maidana, Bradley and Alexander), so such a lacklustre performance is not very impressive, not even against a top 5-10 junior welter. I don't know what it is, but he can not seem to force his gameplan or style on an elite opponent. He got into a brawl against Maidana, although he could have boxed him and maybe won, and he failed miserably to use his physical advantages against a boxer like Peterson.

Let's be honest, ever since the loss to Maidana, he is underachieving. Alatorre is a nobody, and Antonio Diaz, Nate Campbell and Vivian Harris are all close to the very end of their careers or downright finished. Even if he is only 23, this is getting a bit worrying for what looked like it could have been a very illustrous career.

So what does the near future have in store for him? I don't think he beats Bradley or Khan at this stage. Rematch with Peterson and fight smarter? Grudge match with Rios, which he will probably win (although I am not 100% sure about that anymore either)? New trainer to revive his career?

[jrosales13]

I think he needs to start over go on ESPN, off tv and just start over get hungry.

And, wait for Rios to move up. But, in meant off tv or ESPN, no HBO or PPV's.

[King Ju-Ju]

i dont think he should have even fought peterson. call me crazy or whatever but i never wanna see peterson fight again. his style is horrible.

[£-4-£]

Rematch Peterson and make sure it doesn't go to the cards.

Rematch Maidana, and don't get into a slug-fest with him. Box him.

Fight whoever holds the IBF belt (Mabuza or Judah).

Fight Devon Alexander - a fight he could potentially win in a year's time.

[CarlosG815]

Ortiz doesn't have the heart and he isn't good enough to be competitive at 140, nor 147. He was beat up and forced to quit against Maidana in the 6th round, and Peterson, who is a knockout for most big names at 140, made him look terrible.

Ortiz just doesn't have what it takes to be a good fighter. It's something he has done a long time and put a lot of time into, but he's just not very good at it, he is missing too many vital qualities.

Alexis Arguello was one of the most humane boxers I have ever watched. One of the greatest fights in history was Arguello/Ray Mancini. After the fight, Arguello said he never wanted to fight him again because "I had to turn myself into a beast to beat him, and I had to fight him in a way that I don't want to fight anyone."

He lacked a killer instinct but he was such a good boxer that it was ok, he could beat you with boxing skills alone, whereas a guy like Tyson needed to act on killer instinct, be relentless, hurt you and then hurt you more until you were down.

Ortiz has no killer instinct, and he also lacks the skills necessary to finish opponents off handily.

He has no heart either, and he showed then when he threw his gloves up and walked to his corner against Maidana.

He was a good prospect coming up, but nothing more. He was exposed by Maidana to not be able to take a punch and was lacking heart to fight back when in trouble, and was again exposed by Peterson on Saturday that he can not overcome even a C rated fighter. Peterson was matched up with Ortiz because it should have been an easy fight.

It really makes no difference to me where Ortiz goes from here but if I were his adviser I would tell him to get serious, train way harder so you can be in condition to go 12 rounds, and start hurting people in the ring. If not, nobody is going to pay to watch you fight.

[FLYBOY]

I don't think he has the killer instinct. Dude needs to do something else.

[Eaner0919]

sometimes you can't fix something that a fighter doesn't see as wrong

Vic sees his free spirit and careless approach as who he is but IMO it cost him this fight.

the fire and ferocity he had coming up is lost and now he seems not to have any urgency in what he does both in life and in the ring

he may have been Rosario'd. For those of you too young to know this term it's what some call a fighter who was forever changed by one fight. It is largely thought that Hector Camacho Sr went from an all around fighter to a running boxer because of the roughness Edwin Rosario laid on him...thus Rosario'd

Vic had a smaller guy in front of him and didn't go for the kill when he had him letting Lamont back in the fight.

that's something a pre Maidana Vic wouldn't have allowed

[araindon]

You know I have no idea. Peterson is a good boxer and has a lot of slickness, but damn, how did Ortiz not win that? I like you and many others had the fight more or less even, maybe 1 point more to Ortiz....the way everyone was saying Ortiz should have had it 97-92 is crazy for me....I definitely agree it was very close. I just think Ortiz isn't hungry for success and that when he has to think hard about what to do in the ring, he just does it wrong. Khan isn't massively intelligent when you hear him speak, but his ring IQ is really high. Ortiz is like the opposite...sounds like an intelligent dude in interviews, but inside the ring....damn the guy just doesn't know what to do.

[Ido]

Ah so apperently I am not the only one who thinks Oritiz has been defanged. Maidana took the Vicious out of him.

[Eaner0919]

Ah so apperently I am not the only one who thinks Oritiz has been defanged. Maidana took the Vicious out of him.

yeah I think that is some aspects the fight with Maidana made him box more and to be honest he is simply not a boxer in the purest sense

Ortiz also concerns me as far as having the proper instructions or smarts to fight a good fight. It's funny but what Merchant said was spot on in that Ortiz tried to box a boxer in Peterson and slug a slugger in Maidana.