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“Vicious” Victor Ortiz Gets Broken Jaw – Saul Alvarez Left in the Cold: Josesito Lopez Wins BOXING WAR

By Gina L. Caliboso (At Ringside)

It was a good night of boxing, RSR Fans. On Saturday night, Showtime showcased two fights at the Staples Center. The first, between Lucas Matthyse, 31-2, 29 KO’s vs. Humberto Soto, 58-8, 34 KO’s for the vacant WBC Continental Americas Light welterweight title. Then the main event, “Vicious” Victor Ortiz, 29-4, 22 KO’s vs. Josesito Lopez, 30-4, 18 KO’s for the WBC Silver welterweight title. I hadn’t covered a fight in a while, but these two bouts were wonderful to watch. I was only 5 rows away from the ring and I heard the boxing leather hit hard and connect every time. But here’s my take on the action.

Lucas Matthyse vs. Humberto Soto

1st round – Both Matthyse and Soto began to feel each other’s sense of timing, rhythm and power. It was a pro-Mexican crowd, so Matthyse, from Argentina faced boos. In this round, Soto was hard punching and Matthyse came back at his own combos. Soto had tripped twice, but showed a bit more than Matthyse.

2nd round – The action got heavier between the two fighters. Both fighters showed how evenly matched they were when they both decided to trade. The round ended with Matthyse rocking Soto – one more second and it would have been considered a knockdown.

3rd round – The action grew more intense as Matthyse put the fight to Soto. He put in some good body shots that left Soto hurt, but Soto still got in four punch combos and Matthyse emerged with a cut. At this point in the fight, Matthyse reminded me of a wild puncher who swings a bit wider, but when he connects, it’s powerful. Matthyse reminded me of Sergio Martinez. But once Matthyse settled inside, he beat Soto.

4th round – Matthyse came out swinging and solidly connected to Soto’s body. However, Soto showed more multiple punch combos. Matthyse continued his attack on Soto’s body.

5th round – Matthyse could feel the fight rhythm shift in his favor. He again came out swinging and got Soto against the ropes. Finally, Matthyse connected a left hook followed by a cross. KO win for Matthyse.

Something new happened for this bout. Perhaps due to the recent scoring issues in boxing. The media got immediate copies of the judges’ score cards. The three judges scored this bout as the following:

1) Alejandro Rochin, 49-45 for Matthyse; 2) Dr. James Jen Kin, 47-47; 3) Barry Druxman, 48-46 for Matthyse. Shostats (punchstats) showed the following:
Matthyse threw 345 punches (102 connected). For Soto, he threw 287 punches (80 connected). Matthyse threw 252 power punches (85 landing). Soto threw 201 power punches (69 connecting). Both fighters were landing 34% of power punches thrown.

Victor Ortiz vs. Josesito Lopez – Main Event

1st round – I was expecting Lopez to maybe be a bit tentative, perhaps shake off some nervousness. But Lopez showed some good depth in this opening round and didn’t look nervous at all. Lopez traded with Ortiz and ended the round with a solid connect against Ortiz.

2nd round – Surprisingly, the pro-Ortiz crowd at the Staples Center started to get a little ‘hissy’ when they saw Ortiz use his head once on the inside. When Ortiz goes inside, you can get the feeling that he’s feeling a bit frustrated, or maybe that could all be incidental. Lopez kept going forward and connected with solid crosses. But then Ortiz dug in a bit and Lopez looked a little wobbly.

3rd round – In this round, Ortiz started to really show his better jab. These two stood toe to toe with one another and finally Ortiz settled down and started to connect more. But again, I noticed that Lopez continued to bring the fight to Ortiz. He didn’t back down one bit.

4th round – Ortiz came on stronger once the round started. Ortiz threw better combos in this round, but then Lopez adjusted and figured he had to stay away from Ortiz’s power left. Ortiz had been setting up his cross beautifully with a jab and he connected. However, when it came to inside exchanges, Lopez fought better.

5th round – Lopez adjusted to fighting away from the ropes. The two liked to trade in the middle of the ring with Ortiz winning most of these exchanges. But then, it got a bit ugly. In the middle of an exchange, Ortiz hit Lopez behind the head – rather purposeful as in, “take that!” Lopez got a time out from the referee. There were boos and hisses. But then, Lopez shook it off, continued, and fought BETTER. It was another lesson on what you can do when you know where the referee is in the ring.

6th round – Lopez started to get the crowd on his side after getting hit behind the head. He came out and did not allow himself to be bulled. Ortiz nailed Lopez with an upper cut, but Lopez didn’t waiver in his attack one bit. I’d say that I saw a bit of frustration on Ortiz’s part.

7th round – There was a definite shift in Lopez’s demeanor. He wasn’t intimidated or backing down one bit from Ortiz. He traded with Ortiz and even egged Ortiz on as if to say, “Come on (insert Spanish expletive here), I’m not going anywhere!” At this point, I thought Ortiz needed to get in more power shots because he was starting to affect Lopez, but Lopez’s confidence was increasing and showing more.

8th round – Lopez continued to move the fight in his favor, especially inside – he showed a better hook with more power and also showed a rear upper cut that rocked Ortiz. Lopez figured out how to work his jab more and connect solidly.

9th round – Lopez continued fighting better and again worked his way inside. Ortiz tried to redirect his offense to the body, but Lopez took whatever Ortiz gave out. I saw that look in Lopez’s eyes. He was going to take the fight away from Ortiz.

Then, it happened RSR fans, Ortiz suffered a broken jaw – TKO for Lopez. To quote a line from one of the Rocky film – “It was sheer pandemonium.” Everyone converged into the ring and suddenly I see Lopez raising his hands up, Ortiz shaking his head like he wanted to keep going.

So, I had Lopez picking up momentum. Here’s how the judges called it:
1) Kermit Bayless, 86-85, for Ortiz; 2) Pat Russell, 88 to 83, for Ortiz; 3) Marty Denkin, 87-84, Lopez. Shostats showed the following: Ortiz threw 411 punches (147 connected). Lopez threw 408 (122 connected); Ortiz threw 221 punches (99 connected). Lopez threw 302 (landed 110). Ortiz showed a better power punch connect percentage at 45% and Lopez at 36%.

There was a tremendous amount of cat calls and if even if I knew how to spell some of the Spanish words being used, I wouldn’t feel right about directing them at Ortiz. At the end of the fight, Ortiz was shuffled quickly out the ring. But there was some lingering going on as to what happened. Later, a quote was exchanged that Ortiz had felt his jaw hurt in the 5th round. More importantly, however, without all the badmouthing of Ortiz’s competitive spirit, he chose to lose to fight another day. But bear this in mind, had he won the bout, his next opponent was to be Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Now, obviously, that’s changed.

Finally, as I sat ringside (I love the sound of that!), there’s no doubt that the love for boxing is still out there. Despite the recent bad decision in the Pacquiao – Bradley bout, there’s still those fight fans that will tune in to see the sport of boxing’s very best battle it out for a title. You also get a sense that by giving out the scorecards at the end of the bout, it takes away that sense of what was being seen and scored during the bout. Let’s see if boxing can re-emerge for the better in the next few months. And well, I know I want to be ringside to see my beloved sport of boxing get better!

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