Victor Ortiz and Andre Berto meet again Saturday night in Carson, Calif., nearly five years after their epic battle at Foxwoods that changed the lives and careers of both fighters.
Berto was the unbeaten WBC welterweight champion, and Ortiz was viewed in some circles as the handsome heir apparent to Oscar De La Hoya. With a victory that night in September 2011, Berto was pointing to a possible matchup against Floyd Mayweather and a corresponding huge payday. Ortiz had gone 4-0-1 since his courage was questioned following a loss to Marcos Maidana in 2009.
Berto was the favorite, but the champion was dropped by Ortiz in the first round. Ortiz was down in the second round, and both fighters hit the canvas at different times in the sixth round. It was a toe-to-toe brawl. Ortiz lost a point in the 10th round for hitting behind the head, but still managed to win a unanimous decision: 114-111, 114-112 and 115-110.
Instead it was the new WBC champion Ortiz who would fight and lose to Mayweather, the first of three straight losses that made him basically irrelevant. Berto (30-4, 23 KOs) has gone 3-3 since that night, most recently losing to Mayweather last September.
Both of their once-promising careers need a boost. They meet at 8 p.m. Eastern on Fox as part of the Premier Boxing Champions series.
“This is a totally different fight than five years ago,” said Ortiz (31-5-2, 24 KOs). “We’re different people. I’m a different guy, and so is he. He might hate me. I respect him, but I’m going to take him down and out.”
Berto sees a different outcome in the rematch.
“The situation five years ago, there’s no reason to keep speaking on that,” he said. “I’m a better man today. I put in the work for this one. I think he is already defeated. He sees how focused I am. If he has been hearing anything from camp, he knows I’m ready to go.”
Berto-Ortiz II continues a busy stretch of boxing. Also Saturday night, on Showtime, WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack defends his title against former champion Lucian Bute, and IBF 168-pound champ James DeGale defends against Rogelio Medina at the Washington DC Armory. The winners have agreed to meet in a unification fight later this year.
“If I take this belt, after that we’re looking forward to having an opportunity to unify the titles,” Bute said. “I would love to have a chance to unify.”
Plus, two press conferences for future fights were held in New York this week. The welterweight showdown between Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter has been rescheduled for June 25 at Barclays Center. (Tickets are on sale.)
“This is a tremendous fight, arguably the best matchup of the year,” Thurman said. “We’re going to work our butts off to make it the Fight of the Year.”
Said Porter: “Keith Thurman is bringing out the competitiveness in me to a level I’ve always wanted. Me and Keith Thurman are going to put on a show.”
Top Rank will stage its annual Puerto Rican Day Parade weekend card on June 11 at the Garden Theater. HBO will televise. WBO featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko challenges Roman “Rocky” Martinez for his WBO junior lightweight title, and Puerto Rico’s Felix Verdejo takes on Juan Jose Martinez. As an added attraction, Chinese flyweight icon Zou Shiming will make his US debut. Tickets are on sale.