Tweet
After winning the LWW title, Ortiz eventually lost the title to Duilio Loi and moved down in weight to try his hand at Lightweight.
After moving down to LW Ortiz was already ranked at #2 by the ring for his work in the JWW division (due to the fact JWW wasn't really an established division so they stuck him in with the LW). He proved he was worth something here by beating #5 contender Douglas Vaillant. He then beat the former challenger and former number 1 contender who was unsuccessful against current champion Joe Brown, Paolo Rosi.
Ortiz' defeat of Rosi earned himself a shot at Brown. Ortiz defeated Brown for the WBA Title in an excellent win.
For anyone who doesn't know much about Joe Brown. He was a classic boxer puncher and a Hall of Famer who had an excellent reign defending his lineal title 11 times.
Ortiz' first defence came against a Top 10 contender in Teruo Kosaka which he won by stoppage. He then went on to defeat top 10 contender Arthur Persley in a non title bout.
In his second defence against number 3 contender from Cuba Douglas Vaillant the vacant WBC title was also on the line. Ortiz won this bout in 13 rounds. Granting him both titles making him the Undisputed champion of the Lightweight class.
After a 2 non title bouts he was back fighting for the title against ATG Flash Elorde who was the current SFW Champ. Ortiz won this bout by stoppage.
Instead of participating in a non-title match Oritz defended the title again against Kenny Lane who was the number 1 contender and had fought in a losing effort to Joe Brown. Ortiz won but, this time only by decision. Contrary to when he had stopped Lane as JWW Champion.
Ortiz then faced Ismael Laguna and lost by MD to the Number 1 challenger. This left Ortiz without any belts. However Ortiz won a clear Unanimous decision in the return bout to regain his belts against the Hall of Famer. An interesting fact about these bouts is the first was referred by Jersey Joe Walcott and the second by Rocky Marciano! His next bout was a draw with Nicolino Locche who was the number 1 contender for the JWW belt and Ortiz weighed in at JWW.
He then defended against the Number 1 Super Feathweight contender Johnny Bizarro won via 12 round stoppage.
His next defence came against Hall of Famer Sugar Ramos, Who was Feathweight champion before being displaced by Salvadir. Ortiz won this bout by TKO in 5 and the WBC declared that an instant rematch take place because of the referee favouring Ortiz. And get this! As if Ortiz hadn't had enough famous referee's the one under scrutiny here was Billy Conn!
Ortiz defended his WBA title against Flash Elorde. The WBC refusing to have their belt up for grabs due to Ortiz not rematching Ramos. It had been 2 years since their first contest but, Elorde was still the SFW Champ! This bout ended the same way. Via stoppage in the 14th round. After this bout, Elorde would lose the Super Featherweight belts he had kept for so long.
Ortiz then won his rematch against Ramos using the same means one round earlier by TKO in 4.
His next challenge was the man who took his LW title from him previously and had worked his way to number 1 again after being knocked down to number 5 as a result of losing the title to Ortiz in the return.
Ortiz won the fight against the HOF, putting him 2-1 up in their series.
However, all great title runs must come to an end and Ortiz did via split decision at the hands of the number 1 contender Carlos "Teo" Cruz.
He would try to come back and got himself a match with my guy Mr Buchanan. But, at 36 was too old and his quickness had faded too much. Ortiz ended up surrendering on his stool to the disappointment of his cornermen, marking the end of a great career.
All in all a very good reign in the Lightweight stakes. Defeating good contenders and a handful of HOF on multiple occasions.
To summarise:
Won the title vs Old Bones Joe Brown (LW Champ and HOF.)
Defence vs Teruo Kosaka.
Defence of WBA title and won Vacant WBC Title vs Douglas Vaillant.
Defence of Titles v Flash Erolde (SFW Champ, HOF.)
Defence of Titles vs Kenny Lane.
Loses title to Ismael Laguna (LW Champ, HOF.)
Wins titles back against Ismael Laguna. (LW Champ, HOF.)
Defends against Johnny Bizarro.
Defends against Sugar Ramos. (FW Champ, HOF.)
Defends against v Flash Erolde (SFW Champ, HOF.)
Defends against Sugar Ramos. (FW Champ, HOF.)
Defends against Ismael Laguna (LW Champ, HOF.)
Loses to Carlos "Teo" Cruz. (LW Champ.)
9 defences of Undisputed LW Championship. (Forget the 2nd Elorde fight I'm still classing it as undisputed.)
Notable wins:
Joe Brown (Great LW Champ, HOF)
Flash Erolde X2 (Great SFW Champ, HOF.)
Sugar Ramos X2 (FW Champ, HOF)
Ismael Laguna x2 (LW CHamp, HOF)
Stay tuned for Joe Gans and Roberto Duran!
After moving down to LW Ortiz was already ranked at #2 by the ring for his work in the JWW division (due to the fact JWW wasn't really an established division so they stuck him in with the LW). He proved he was worth something here by beating #5 contender Douglas Vaillant. He then beat the former challenger and former number 1 contender who was unsuccessful against current champion Joe Brown, Paolo Rosi.
Ortiz' defeat of Rosi earned himself a shot at Brown. Ortiz defeated Brown for the WBA Title in an excellent win.
For anyone who doesn't know much about Joe Brown. He was a classic boxer puncher and a Hall of Famer who had an excellent reign defending his lineal title 11 times.
Ortiz' first defence came against a Top 10 contender in Teruo Kosaka which he won by stoppage. He then went on to defeat top 10 contender Arthur Persley in a non title bout.
In his second defence against number 3 contender from Cuba Douglas Vaillant the vacant WBC title was also on the line. Ortiz won this bout in 13 rounds. Granting him both titles making him the Undisputed champion of the Lightweight class.
After a 2 non title bouts he was back fighting for the title against ATG Flash Elorde who was the current SFW Champ. Ortiz won this bout by stoppage.
Instead of participating in a non-title match Oritz defended the title again against Kenny Lane who was the number 1 contender and had fought in a losing effort to Joe Brown. Ortiz won but, this time only by decision. Contrary to when he had stopped Lane as JWW Champion.
Ortiz then faced Ismael Laguna and lost by MD to the Number 1 challenger. This left Ortiz without any belts. However Ortiz won a clear Unanimous decision in the return bout to regain his belts against the Hall of Famer. An interesting fact about these bouts is the first was referred by Jersey Joe Walcott and the second by Rocky Marciano! His next bout was a draw with Nicolino Locche who was the number 1 contender for the JWW belt and Ortiz weighed in at JWW.
He then defended against the Number 1 Super Feathweight contender Johnny Bizarro won via 12 round stoppage.
His next defence came against Hall of Famer Sugar Ramos, Who was Feathweight champion before being displaced by Salvadir. Ortiz won this bout by TKO in 5 and the WBC declared that an instant rematch take place because of the referee favouring Ortiz. And get this! As if Ortiz hadn't had enough famous referee's the one under scrutiny here was Billy Conn!
Ortiz defended his WBA title against Flash Elorde. The WBC refusing to have their belt up for grabs due to Ortiz not rematching Ramos. It had been 2 years since their first contest but, Elorde was still the SFW Champ! This bout ended the same way. Via stoppage in the 14th round. After this bout, Elorde would lose the Super Featherweight belts he had kept for so long.
Ortiz then won his rematch against Ramos using the same means one round earlier by TKO in 4.
His next challenge was the man who took his LW title from him previously and had worked his way to number 1 again after being knocked down to number 5 as a result of losing the title to Ortiz in the return.
Ortiz won the fight against the HOF, putting him 2-1 up in their series.
However, all great title runs must come to an end and Ortiz did via split decision at the hands of the number 1 contender Carlos "Teo" Cruz.
He would try to come back and got himself a match with my guy Mr Buchanan. But, at 36 was too old and his quickness had faded too much. Ortiz ended up surrendering on his stool to the disappointment of his cornermen, marking the end of a great career.
All in all a very good reign in the Lightweight stakes. Defeating good contenders and a handful of HOF on multiple occasions.
To summarise:
Won the title vs Old Bones Joe Brown (LW Champ and HOF.)
Defence vs Teruo Kosaka.
Defence of WBA title and won Vacant WBC Title vs Douglas Vaillant.
Defence of Titles v Flash Erolde (SFW Champ, HOF.)
Defence of Titles vs Kenny Lane.
Loses title to Ismael Laguna (LW Champ, HOF.)
Wins titles back against Ismael Laguna. (LW Champ, HOF.)
Defends against Johnny Bizarro.
Defends against Sugar Ramos. (FW Champ, HOF.)
Defends against v Flash Erolde (SFW Champ, HOF.)
Defends against Sugar Ramos. (FW Champ, HOF.)
Defends against Ismael Laguna (LW Champ, HOF.)
Loses to Carlos "Teo" Cruz. (LW Champ.)
9 defences of Undisputed LW Championship. (Forget the 2nd Elorde fight I'm still classing it as undisputed.)
Notable wins:
Joe Brown (Great LW Champ, HOF)
Flash Erolde X2 (Great SFW Champ, HOF.)
Sugar Ramos X2 (FW Champ, HOF)
Ismael Laguna x2 (LW CHamp, HOF)
Stay tuned for Joe Gans and Roberto Duran!
, or at least his team did.
Comment