Views From An Ortiz Fan....

[-MAKAVELLI-]

many NSB regulars who might have come across my posts know that i hype the kid...

in a crossroads phase of boxing where older icons are winding down their careers, i look closely at prospects, potential blue chippers and some fighters that might not be on the radar...among those would-be-heirs to marquee stardom, i initially pegged two 'cant miss' fighters;

JuanMa Lopez and Victor Ortiz


charismatic, great offense, youth, fighters that can help carry the sport

well, juanma is still on course as he dispatched his rugged opponent last nite


now for Victor;




DAMN...what can i say? I can talk about the pressures of living up to the hype that many of us put on him....I can talk about the pressures of headlining a Staples Center venue....I can talk about too much too soon...but that would be ignoring what really happened last nite



Boxing fans are some of the harshest critics in all of sports IMO...every fight fan has their own criteria oh why they would 'jump on the wagon' for certain fighters...sometimes its a certain skill, a certain manner that the fighters carry themselves, sometimes its race, sometimes its geography...

but one common criteria that a majority of fights fans seek in a fighter, especially one that they will root for and 'defend' is HEART


forget HEART in the sense of fights not being made, i'm talking about in-ring HEART...you know, where they either give us our money's worth or not...



Last night, i watched a kid come in expecting, like most of us, to steamroll his 'outmatched' opponent....****, it wasn't even 30 seconds into the first round that Emmanuel Steward already started ragging on Maidana's lack of skill


Victor dropped him early and i thought it was over...like he probably did...only 10 seconds later, he was on the canvass himself and a bon-a-fide shootout had broken out


it was classic stuff...a no jab, bombs only, nut check between two guys in front of thousands


the **** that WE, as boxing fans, live for


as an Ortiz fan, i got worried when he went down...after dropping Maidana two more times in the ensuing round, i thought he had the bout under control


BUT...Maidana pulled out that something that we ALL look for; HEART....tons of it...he got dropped, did a backflip, got up and wanted more...he got dropped again, got up and wanted more


HEART...his was so BIG that it shrank Victor's...



Ortiz realized that he would probably have to kill this opponent to get the W...and as the reckless rights kept landing on his mug, his will was being taken...it got to the point that he no longer wanted to fight


all this after only 6 rounds...then he quit



i still like the kid, i think he's bright, articulate and very smart...he's got great offensive tools, a great promoter but he needs to do some soul searching


what he said in the post fight interview all made sense...as human beings we could all agree about his sense of in-ring safety

but as fight fans, those are the last words we want to hear...right or wrong, i dont want to pay or follow someone that quits during a heart-check


Ortiz did nothing to reinforce my fanhood however, in the quest to look for new fighters to root for;


Marcos 'El Chino' Maidana just earned a new fan last nite

[Pullcounter]

so in summary, ortiz is a quitter but you still like him.

[catalinul]

He''ll be back.

[BoxingChaos]

He wanted the knock out so bad but he himself did not want to be knocked out. Ironic isn't it?

[BattlingNelson]

Nice post mak.

One defeat isn't the end of the world as one perhaps would think reading NSB.

I haven't seen the fight, but in general there's no big shame in quitting when you're as young and inexperienced as Ortiz. He can fight another day and the experience has likely only made him stronger and more determined.

[-MAKAVELLI-]

so in summary, ortiz is a quitter but you still like him.

yes, he's cool but Maidana's cooler

He''ll be back.

he better find that heart thing before he does

He wanted the knock out so bad but he himself did not want to be knocked out. Ironic isn't it?

someone should explain to him how that doesn't really fly

[Kevin Jesus]

I'm a fan of Victor too, and like you mak i completely overlooked Maidana and also thought Ortiz was going to steamroll through him.

But it's whatever, once a fan i'm always a fan. I'll give him a chance to redeem himself, I think that like most of his fans, he too overlooked Maidana.

It happens Mak, look at Williams vs Quintana I where Williams overlooked Quintana and got schooled. Mosley vs Forrest I where Mosley lost but i didn't give up on him, Jones vs Tarver II, Taylor vs Pavlik I/Froch etc. All these guys failed me but as a fan you have to give them chances.

You're right about the heart department but i mean, the guy is young he's almost my age i think. Hopefully he asks for a rematch and comes in more determined and also not overlook Maidana.

Let's give him a chance mak, he did knock him down a couple of times early in the fight so we can only hope he'll knock him out if a rematch happens.

[Kevin Jesus]

Let me add, imo i think this was more of a factor of experience/age rather than heart. I believe this fight will help Ortiz in the long run.

By just asking for a rematch alone, that will already make him look better. I hope a rematch is the only thing on his mind because he would prob be forgiven by other fans if he can knock Maidana out in a rematch. That's the least he can do right now.

[No Ceiling]

maidana looks like half pinoy or somethin.

[-MAKAVELLI-]

I'm a fan of Victor too, and like you mak i completely overlooked Maidana and also thought Ortiz was going to steamroll through him.

But it's whatever, once a fan i'm always a fan. I'll give him a chance to redeem himself, I think that like most of his fans, he too overlooked Maidana.

It happens Mak, look at Williams vs Quintana I where Williams overlooked Quintana and got schooled. Mosley vs Forrest I where Mosley lost but i didn't give up on him, Jones vs Tarver II, Taylor vs Pavlik I/Froch etc. All these guys failed me but as a fan you have to give them chances.

You're right about the heart department but i mean, the guy is young he's almost my age i think. Hopefully he asks for a rematch and comes in more determined and also not overlook Maidana.

Let's give him a chance mak, he did knock him down a couple of times early in the fight so we can only hope he'll knock him out if a rematch happens.

i hear ya Kev...i really hope that he does some serious soul searching before climbing back in there...


i dont jump off wagons easily...not from my fighter getting KOd, losing, not making fights happen...but the one thing that would make me look for the exit is if they're not 100% committed when they're engaged in battle