Courtesy once again HBO Sports and Yahoo! Sports, here's Victor Ortiz's win on April 16 over Andre Berto. It's a fabulous fight, so for those who have not yet seen it (for whatever reason), watch it. For those who just want to watch a great fight again, here's your chance.
Like many, I have been quick to say that Andre Berto is not Floyd Mayweather Jr, and I doubt anyone disagrees. In the end, Ortiz eked this one out on close but well-deserved scores. Nobody thought Berto won this or anything (well, almost nobody), but it wasn't a dominant performance from Victor or anything like that. It was a great fight with two-way action.
I criticize Ortiz plenty. I know I do. Some of it might not even be deserved. I don't know -- I'm not a big fan of his. But where I am a fan of his is between the bells, in the ring. He's a good fighter and he makes for exciting fights. And in this one, he dug down deep and showed what kind of true fighter he can be. Finally, with this fight, the hype was met with the production and the results. Ortiz had always been talented, but he opened the questions about himself when he quit against Marcos Maidana.
After he came off the canvas against Berto -- on good, solid knockdowns, too -- and responded by putting Andre on his ass (the best came with Emanuel Steward's incredible call), I was a full-blown Victor Ortiz fan, at least for a little while.
Can he adapt against Mayweather? Can he make the necessary changes? And can he avoid the mental beatdown that Floyd dishes out to every opponent? We'll see. The win over Berto was a career-best performance from Ortiz. He will need another one against Mayweather.