Comments Thread For: Victor Ortiz Made The Right Call: Health First, Dollars Later

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

By Lyle Fitzsimmons - Here’s a news flash, folks… I love sports.

I played football, baseball and hockey to moderate success as a youngster, picked up distance running as an intermittent hobby in my 30s and have been fortunate enough to scratch out something resembling a post-college living watching and writing about athletes in action.

But I’ve always had a special affection for boxing.

Whether it was the feel of hitting a heavy bag, landing a right hand or simply sitting back with the wife and watching a couple high-enders mix it up on pay-per-view TV, it’s had me since hello.

I never kidded myself into thinking I had mettle to compete on anything near a respectable level, but through some middling training in a north Philly gym, a sparring match in Tampa with a female world champion and years of simply being around fighters and trainers, I do have a feel for what it requires.

And even in the midst of his second major career crisis, I think Victor Ortiz has it.

Yes, I was watching his fight with Josesito Lopez on Saturday night – P.S., I heart Sky Sports – and yes, I was as stunned as a battered Lopez appeared to be when referee Jack Reiss waved his arms to signal the fight would not continue into its final nine minutes at Staples Center.

I’ll even concede that my split-second gut reaction was… “Holy ****, this guy’s career is over.” [Click Here To Read More]

[mgsooner]

If his injuries are truly as bad as reported, you are a moron if you criticize him for not continuing. Let's break your jaw in two places and then we'll see if you're ready to go get hit in the face for 9 more minutes.

[apocalypto]

Yeah man lets encourage fighters to quit when it get tough in there. Bc after all he will get another shot on a premium network.

[Primera]

b...b....b..bu..b-but X fighter fought with a broken jaw, why not Ortiz??

Did X fighters jaw break in two places, also piercing a vein which caused internal bleeding in the process?

"uhhhmm"

[koolttt]

Boxing fans don't want to see fighters quit period. It's bad for the sport.

Boxing in general is not a healthy sport, from the weight draining to the blows you take to the body and head.

If your priority is health first your in the the wrong sport.

Ortiz should just stick to marathons and surfing.

[mgsooner]

It's obvious we have a lot of "keyboard warriors" here that have never even come close to a boxing ring.

[Doctor_Tenma]

Just a bad coincidence this happened to Vic considering his history, so that itself makes it hard for people to take this lightly.

[El Angel]

He's story still being written, he's 25. He just needs to focus on Lopez and this rematch.

[Shogunofharlem1]

Just a bad coincidence this happened to Vic considering his history, so that itself makes it hard for people to take this lightly.

That and the fact that the signs were there he was going to either shutdown or look for a way out. (The inane fouling along with huge retreats whenever Lopez showed any type of confidence)

[-Kev-]

Ortiz is an established household name in boxing, thanks to Mayweather and especially the incident. He's also know by refs now, as ref Reiss said "Don't touch his gloves, just fight!" when Ortiz was going for a touch of the gloves to Lopez after Lopez took his breather from the rabid punch, and the fight was resuming.

Ortiz has his rematch, and can make up for it this time, unlike never making up for it against Maidana. He's known, he's young, he wants his rematch, doctors say his jaw will be even stronger. Ortiz is good, no one should be worrying about him. To add even more positives for Ortiz, he's an exciting fighter and has been in very few dull fights, probably only vs Campbell that I can remember. The Canelo fight is still there, just not for September 15th, probably somewhere in 2013.