Victor Ortiz was interviewed by BoxingScene.com's Ryan Burton, and it's one of the strangest interviews I have ever read.

BoxingScene:  Its been a while since we have spoken Victor. Tell me what is new with you?
 
Victor Ortiz:  Not much. I actually experienced my first summer just having fun and enjoying myself. You know other than having this cast it was pretty cool.
 
BoxingScene:  A cast...what for?
 
Victor Ortiz:  I had surgery on my right wrist. It was shattered two weeks before my last... oh never mind it was shattered.
 
BoxingScene:  You knocked Maidana down three times with a shattered wrist?
 
Victor Ortiz:  That is what I heard. I can't really comment on that fight. I don't really recall. I recall something and that was a straight right that I ran into and after that it just shut down my computer for the night. I was good though. I guess I was good (laughing).

It would seem amazing that Ortiz would fight with a shattered wrist. Absolutely amazing. It would seem amazing that Golden Boy would let him fight with a shattered wrist. HBO's June 27 date had already taken a hit when John-Juarez II was postponed. A shattered wrist probably would have postponed the entire card.

Doesn't this also seem like one hell of a corny setup? "How was your summer?" "Pretty great, except for this cast I have..." "A CAST?! Whatever for?!" "Why, I shattered my -- oh, I shouldn't say!" "No, spill the beans!" "WELL, SINCE YOU INSIST..."

BoxingScene:  What about the rumor of you returing to action in December?
 
Victor Ortiz:  Definitely. I never left you know. I guess some things were kind of misinterpreted by our good ol' friend Max. I never quit. I never turned my back on the sport. I love boxing. That is what I have been doing since I was a youngster.

First of all, I really dislike when people say "good ol'," but that's not the point here. Max didn't misinterpret anything, neither did anyone else. Ortiz quit in the fight, and then made statements afterward like "I don't deserve to be getting hit like that," and "I have a lot of thinking to do." Gee, how could someone think he might be having second thoughts about a career in boxing?

He's also claiming that Maidana won't fight him again:

BoxingScene:  So Maidana doesn't want to fight you?
 
Victor Ortiz:  Nope. 
 
BoxingScene:  So are you calling him out?
 
Victor Ortiz:  I tried a few times already. It isn't working. It's OK though, it's not a big deal.

I would welcome a Maidana-Ortiz rematch, because off-putting ending or not, it was a hell of a war. If he really wanted a Maidana rematch, why are we hearing about it a couple days before October begins, when Maidana is looking to fight in November? I can't say that Ortiz and Golden Boy didn't seek a rematch. Ortiz says they did. But generally speaking, things like rematch call-outs hit the press, either because the guy calling someone out takes it to the press, or his trainer does, or the promotional company releases a statement about it, or whatever.

I wouldn't question this at all, because a rematch might well be the absolute best thing for him. Shake the demons off and all that. But he's also claiming shattered wrists now, so who knows? I hope he does come back strong, because he's got a lot of talent and makes for good, exciting action fights. But given the way his fight with Maidana turned out and the aftermath, he's going to have to answer the questions in the ring.

via www.hbo.com

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So much has been made of Victor Ortiz's loss and the way it came about that I do think not enough has been made of the fact that Marcos Maidana beat on him until he gave up. ESPN.com ran a fantastic article a couple days ago from the perspective of Maidana's corner. It's a must-read:

The orders were to hit first, then move in to throw harder punches, with the left paving the way for the other punches, always bobbing and weaving. And Maidana complied, but only occasionally. The fight was still a war, much to our despair.

Toward the end of the fourth round, things began to look up. Maidana connected on a trio of right hands and hooks to the body that hurt Ortiz. We could hear the exclamations from the audience ("uhh!") whenever one of those painful shots hit a soft spot.

In the fifth, the bombs from both fighters continued to land. But it was Maidana who delivered the most punishment, connecting on a tremendous right hand that opened a deep cut over Ortiz's right eye.

Continuous chants of "Or-tiz, Or-tiz" exhorted the local fighter, but Ortiz's legs weren't responding. By the end of the round, we realized he was due to hit the canvas again at any moment.

Can't recommend the article enough. Outstanding stuff.

And I still say if you missed Ortiz-Maidana, check for a replay or see if it's on HBO On Demand right now. It was a thrilling war, unsatisfying ending and all.

Victor Ortiz's post-fight comments after his loss to Marcos Maidana were troubling to say the least. Can the Mexican-American come back to revive his career? (via www.hbo.com)

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After being knocked down in the first round on a nasty right hand from Marcos Maidana, Golden Boy phenom hopeful Victor Ortiz was vindicated on commentary by HBO's Max Kellerman. Kellerman, the color commentary man of the future for boxing's biggest broadcaster, noted the rumblings about Ortiz's chin, but that there had been none about his heart, and as he had recovered from a knockdown from the vicious-punching Maidana and scored two more knockdowns (making three total) of the Argentinian semi-underdog, Kellerman noted that his heart had proven out.

He had yet to see the rest of the fight.

When Ortiz was cut, his opposite eye swollen, and another knockdown suffered in the sixth round, Ortiz quit. There is no other way to put it: Ortiz quit. With no desire to continue on in the first fight of his career where he met resistance from the opposing pugliist, Ortiz waved his arms and let the doctor call the fight on the cut.

Ortiz, 22, has had quite a life already. His mother left he and his siblings one day when he was quite young in Kansas. A few years later, his father disappeared. He made his way to California, and then into boxing. Ortiz, though young, is quite a self-made man. You absolutely cannot disregard the guts he's shown as a human being; in similar circumstances, many would have given up, become inhabitants of society's outskirts, and never gotten anywhere near Ortiz's level as a professional athlete.

But that, like it or not, is the past. Ortiz is a man now. And as a professional, he had never seen a specimen like Maidana, the brawler with the big punch who refused to back off. He wasn't the first good fighter Ortiz had faced, but he was the first that offered a real challenge once the bell had rung. He was Ortiz's test. And Ortiz failed.

The loss was no shame. Maidana was ranked No. 10 by Ring Magazine coming into the fight, with a razor-thin loss to 140-pound titlist Andriy Kotelnik his only setback. The fight, while designed to be an Ortiz win, was no gimme whatsoever, and it turned into one of 2009's best, most thrilling affairs, even if the ending left you wanting a little bit something more.

Personally, I came away impressed with Maidana as a never-say-die warrior, a guy with huge huevos and a bigger right hand. Fight alone, Ortiz's loss was no great big issue. He wasn't able to finish a double-tough guy. It happens. Fighters lose fights when they take risks, and this was a risk by Ortiz.

But his post-fight comments are troubling. Some are already wondering whether or not Ortiz will ever step into a ring again, and they're perfectly right to do so. The 22-year old slugger from Oxnard was outgtunned by a nasty opponent, but he quit. And not only did he quit, but after the fight, he remarked, "I'm young, but I don't think I deserve to be getting beat up like this. I got a lot of thinking to do."

There are a LOT of fighters that came up through the ranks very fast, were deemed the next big thing, and then met the brick wall. For Ortiz, it might well be Maidana, the heavy-handed slugger that wouldn't accept a loss despite three knockdowns. After he'd beaten Ortiz up fairly badly, he made him quit. In Maidana, there was no quit. In Ortiz, there seemed to be nothing but.

I do not mean to disrespect Victor Ortiz, but his post-fight comments invited this sort of criticism. Does he love boxing? Is he willing to take the lumps? Is he mentally capable of being the fighter that Golden Boy Promotions want him to be?

I'm guessing he's not. These kind of comments don't just happen. As beaten up as he was, Ortiz appeared to be clear-headed and aware of what he was saying. He's always been a very honest young man -- it has been part of his charm, not holding back, not worrying about saying "the right thing."

Honesty has revealed something about Victor Ortiz that stings. He's just not going to be able to live up to the hype unless something drastically changes. He felt another fighter's drive and determination, and he didn't like it. Sad as it may be, "Vicious" Victor Ortiz doesn't really look to be part of boxing's future.

Arthur Abraham knocked Mahir Oral down five times to retain his IBF middleweight title, but Marcos Maidana's stoppage of Victor Ortiz was the story of the night. (via d.yimg.com)

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Marcos Maidana stopped Victor Ortiz in the sixth round of a junior welterweight war, but the biggest story of the night may have come from Ortiz's post-fight interview.

After essentially quitting in the sixth round, Ortiz said in his post-fight interview that he had "a lot of thinking to do" about his future, and pretty much seemed to give the impression that he doesn't love boxing and isn't up for getting hit the way he was tonight. Many guys have come up fast without much resistance, and then break down once they find that guy that hits back, hits hard, and tests their mettle. I don't want to speak to his future absolutely or anything, but if I were a betting man, Victor Ortiz is never going to be the fighter Golden Boy wanted him to be. I just don't think he has it in him. I don't say that to be disrespectful -- anyone that heard that interview would have to have the same questions. He put them out there.

The fight itself was a Fight of the Year contender, with both men dropped in the first round and Maidana down twice more in the second. The Argentinian Maidana (26-1, 25 KO) stormed back to drop Ortiz in the sixth, after which Ortiz gave up, went to the doctor, and they quickly called it off with a cut bleeding pretty well and his opposite eye swelling shut.

Ortiz (24-2-1, 19 KO) really does have a lot of thinking to do. He also noted that he's "not going out on his back for nobody," which received a few scattered boos. Not exactly warrior talk to say the least.

If you missed the fight, do catch a replay this week on HBO.

On Showtime from Germany, Arthur Abraham knocked down Mahir Oral five times, three in the tenth round, at which point the Oral corner stopped the bout. Oral fought and fought, and came forward, and never ran, but he was simply outgunned by a better, stronger fighter.

Results from the Top Rank PPV in Atlantic City:

• Juan Manuel Lopez RTD-9 Olivier Lontchi ... Called an ugly fight.
  
• Jorge Arce KO-3 Fernando Lumacad
• Yuri Foreman NC-3 Cornelius Bundrage, fight stopped on a headbutt cut
• Vanes Martirosyan RTD-6 Andrey Tsurkan; Martirosyan reportedly gave Tsurkan an awful beating
• Off-TV results: Mario Santiago UD-8 Gilberto Sanchez Leon ... Matt Korobov KO-1 Benjamin Diaz

We will have a lot more tomorrow on Victor Ortiz and Marcos Maidana in particular. This is a pretty interesting developing story to say the least.

Tonight's round-by-round coverage starts with Abraham-Oral on Showtime at 9pm and continues with Ortiz-Maidana on HBO at 10pm.

DO NOT POST SPOILERS OF THE ABRAHAM-ORAL FIGHT.

via www.fightnews.com

via www.notifight.com

Victor Ortiz looks to continue his climb up the 140-pound ranks against Marcos Maidana tonight on HBO.

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Neither of this weekend's fights being offered on major American TV are really big enough to go into our running picks competition, but both are more than worth discussion.

First off, Showtime will bring us a middleweight title fight on tape delay from Germany. IBF titlist Arthur Abraham is considered by some to be the world's top 160-pound fighter, not world champion Kelly Pavlik, and he faces yet another fairly soft touch when he takes on unknown Mahir Oral. The fight is live at 3 ET, but Showtime won't have it on our TVs until nine, so no spoilers tomorrow.

As much as I like and respect Abraham, and feel he's a tremendous fighter with some good wins, fights like this one and his last with Lajuan Simon are really no better than what Universum does with Felix Sturm. If Sturm is going to get the business for it, so should King Arthur, who likely will fight Giovanni Lorenzo next. I'm also not taking a shot at Abraham, but it appears more often that Sturm and Pavlik get grief for their competition, while Abraham rarely takes any guff whatsoever. They're all doing more or less the same thing: Dominating an empty division on their own terms and not fighting each other. If Pavlik-Sturm goes forward (tentatively scheduled for October 3, and not even close to a sure thing), I'll be pleasantly shocked.

If you've never seen Oral, here's the final part of his last fight, a win over Alexander Sipos:

It's not that I'm claiming to be a scout or anything, but watching this entire fight from last November, I see nothing about Oral that will give Abraham real trouble. Arthur will plod, play defense, and strike when he needs to. I don't know that he'll stop him, because some nights Abraham just doesn't ever go into a stopping gear, but he'll beat him convincingly.

On HBO at 10pm, Victor Ortiz matches up with dangerous Marcos Maidana. Maidana's a really good puncher, and his KO rate attests to that. He gave titlist Andriy Kotelnik (Ortiz's original opponent) all he could handle his last time out:

If you look at how Maidana fights and compare it to Ortiz, you can see trouble ahead for either man. Ortiz is a golden child sort of prospect, and a loss to Maidana would short-term ruin future plans that Golden Boy and HBO have for him. But I think he's probably just too fast for Maidana, and as aloof and surfer dude-ish as Ortiz is in interviews, he's a nasty finisher that knows how to go in for the kill. I don't see this one making it to the cards.

The Top Rank PPV from Atlantic City is headlined by Juan Manuel Lopez, who ought to flat-out demolish Olivier Lontchi. The best fight of that show might be Vanes Martirosyan versus Andrey Tsurkan, which should be your usual Tsurkan fight where Andrey shows lots of heart and guts but is seriously out of his league. That's $40 I'm keeping in my wallet. Yuri Foreman-Cornelius Bundrage might require viewers to set their alarm clocks for roughly 45 minutes after the first bell. Actually, if Jorge Arce is as shot as he's looked, his fight with Fernando Lumacad might turn into a war.

Elsewhere On Saturday: Jorge Linares returns against Josafat Perez ... Daud Yordan, who impressed many in his too-short no-contest against Robert Guerrero, fights in Indonesia ... Craig McEwan is on the untelevised HBO undercard, as is prospect Adrien Broner, who faces Willie Kickett.

Rocky Juarez doesn't want any confusion about why he passed on a fight with Mario Santiago for June 27. (via www.goldenboypromotions.com)

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Featherweight contender Rocky Juarez has decided to explain his reasoning for not fighting Mario Santiago, the Puerto Rican southpaw offered up as a replacement opponent for the ill Chris John on Saturday's Boxing After Dark. As I guessed the other day, it's mostly just because Rocky didn't prepare for a southpaw, let alone a very good one like Santiago, and didn't feel prepared:

"I just want the fans to know that I'm not ducking anyone, but this was a decision I had to make. When I got the call on Sunday morning that the fight [with Chris John] was off, I said that I'm in shape and would go ahead with another opponent. I specifically said that I would fight any orthodox fighter at 126 or 130 pounds. It didn't matter who, I didn't even need to know their name. They could have been undefeated, I didn't care."

...

"Ultimately it didn't make sense for me to fight Santiago. Everything was benefiting him, he would have earned more money [than he will on the untelevised undercard] and gotten on TV. Mentally he would have been a lot more hyped than I would have been. I was ready to fight, but I have to be smart, and not get in the ring and risk my chance at being given another opportunity to win a world championship just because I wasn't prepared for the opponent's style."

It's also mentioned that Daud Yordan was first in line to replace John, but he is contractually obligated to fight in Indonesia and the promoter simply wouldn't let him out of the deal, even though he works with Golden Boy Promotions. Santiago came up because he's already on the card, and he's a legit contender, too.

That said, anyone that blames Juarez for not taking this fight is being a fool. We're talking less than a week's notice to take a fight with a tough guy that is completely different than the guy you've been training for. This is Juarez's job, and pro athletes have short windows of prime ability. At 29 and having come up short in his biggest pro fights, Juarez might not have too much longer. A loss to Santiago would have really put a bad jolt into his title dreams.

Featherweight contender Rocky Juarez's rematch with Chris John was called off recently, and after turning down a fight with Mario Santiago, he won't be fighting at all on June 27. (via www.kabarindo.com)

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Featherweight contender Rocky Juarez was offered a fight with Puerto Rico's Mario Santiago as a replacement for his scrapped rematch with Chris John on Saturday night (HBO Boxing After Dark), but turned down the offer due to Santiago being a southpaw. From Dan Rafael:

Juarez (28-4-1, 20 KOs) rejected the fight because Santiago is a southpaw and he did not want to make the adjustment on such short notice after training for the right-handed John, Schaefer said.

"Rocky would have been OK fighting anyone but a lefty," Schaefer said.

Santiago appeared to be an ideal opponent because he was already scheduled to fight on the untelevised portion of Saturday's Top Rank pay-per-view card in Atlantic City, N.J. Now, Santiago will remain on the Top Rank card.

"It looks like it will be just Victor Ortiz and Marcos Maidana on HBO. We are going to go with one fight," Schaefer said. "Rocky won't fight at all. There was an opponent [Santiago] which Rocky turned down. It's not so easy to find someone everyone can agree on at the last minute."

It is not surprising that Juarez wouldn't want to risk a potential rescheduling of the John rematch on a fight with Santiago, who is not only a lefty, but a top ten guy at 126 pounds. You probably recall Santiago from a hell of a good fight with Steven Luevano in 2008, which ended in a draw. It's too bad Rocky won't be fighting and that B.A.D. is now a one-fight card with just Victor Ortiz (a rising name, but not established at all) and Marcos Maidana (who has never been on HBO before). It's yet another snake-bitten 2009 card, as the original idea was Ortiz challenging 140-pound titlist Andriy Kotelnik, who balked after agreeing to the deal to take a fight with Amir Khan, which has also been rescheduled now. That was to be paired with the nicely anticipated John-Juarez II, which for about ten seconds might've been Juarez-Santiago in a very acceptable replacement fight, and now is just plain off. It's been a horrible year for promoters putting together cards, and HBO has taken the very worst of it.

Though Chris John (right) has postponed a rematch with Rocky Juarez (left), Juarez will still look to fight on June 27. (via image.examiner.com)

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Saturday night's HBO Boxing After Dark doubleheader just got a little less enticing. WBA featherweight titlist Chris John (42-0-2, 22 KO) has pulled out of his rematch with Rocky Juarez (28-4, 20 KO) after feeling ill and fatigued. John had blood tests done, and the tests revealed some irregularities, according to BoxingScene.com's Rick Reeno.

It's a big hit, obviously, to what was a really good-looking B.A.D. card. The first John-Juarez fight in February surpassed everyone's expectations as far as being an exciting, dramatic contest, overshadowed minutes after it concluded by the main eventing Marquez-Diaz war in Houston. Paired with a promising slugfest-in-the-making between Victor Ortiz and Marcos Maidana, HBO had quite the gem lined up for Saturday.

Juarez is looking to stay on the card, and HBO wants him there, but finding an opponent on five days' notice is not going to be easy. Juarez would probably fight at either 126 or 130 (or a catchweight in between) and has never lacked for guts in taking good opponents. The problem is simply timing, lack of names at either weight, and the fact that HBO wants it to be a "suitable" opponent. Then again, HBO accepted Cosme Rivera on short notice for Alfredo Angulo recently, so if there's a journeyman with a decent record available, Juarez could fight on, with TV coverage. Guys like that have nothing to lose taking this fight.

You might recall that John had some issues before the first fight with Juarez, too, as sources then said he'd been ill and they were worried about his ability to make weight. He wound up making the limit and putting on a good fight. I worried then that if he pulled out even with legit reasons, he'd get bashed by a lot of folks who had been calling out his fluffed-up record for years, but after coming to the States and impressing in February, I think he'll get a little more slack this time than he theoretically would have last time around. It's stil disappointing, but these things happen.