He's The Best!!! Ortiz just won his first World Championship tonight in the welterweight division with a truly Classic victory and Classic fight over/with Andre Berto. This guy Ortiz is KC media talking head Steven St. John's main man, and I've followed him closely too the past few years, being that he is a local guy.Ortiz (from Garden City, Kansas) had a background that is simply put, all the way tough. Mom deserted him. The Old Man was an alcoholic. Yet he overcame, and is one of the most personable dudes that you could ever want to listen to.
He has a HUGE punch. But frankly, watching him, has reminded me a lot of the last KC-rooted fighter that I followed -- one Tommy Morrison back in the 90's. Morrison was known for the huge punch and the weak chin. At any moment in his fights, he could destroy or be destroyed. I had way too much Deja Vu with Victor Ortiz prior to tonight.
Because the so-called "book" on Victor was that he had the heavy-handed fists, but the allegedly questionable chin (and heart). We had seen the fight with Marcos Rene Maidana (an absolute buzzsaw of a badass, truth be told), where Victor didn't really seem to want to be there at the end.
Then we saw Victor getting robbed in his so-called draw with Lamont Peterson -- a fight he very clearly won. So we wondered where things went from here with this local guy done good and now transplanted into the L.A. scene with one Oscar De La Hoya a part of his management team.
And then we watched the beauty of his performance tonight. Overcoming being knocked down twice, overcoming absolute adversity, to win the World Title on national HBO television in one of the more brutal fights that a human being will ever witness.
These boxers have always been to me complete heroes. They lay everything they have -- their lives, their mental stability, their very existence -- on the line every single time they step in the ring. It's a very brutal sport, but there's also a "sweet science" to it. I so admire the men who partake in it. Could I do so? [Hardly, since while I may be 6'3", I have small soccer-player hands thanks to my Old Man's genes -- small hands and boxing DO NOT JIVE!]
Victor did exactly that tonight -- laid it all out on the line -- and he came out victorious. Although Morrison once held the minor league WBO championship, Ortiz is the first boxer with KC roots to hold one of the MAJOR (i.e. WBC) world titles that I can recall in a long time. Congrats, V.O.! You earned it, dude, not only with your performance tonight, but also with all that you've overcome during your life.
http://www.boxingscene.com/victor-ortiz-beats-andre-berto-grabs-wbc-gold-war--38192
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