clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Victor Ortiz says loss to Luis Collazo 'no big deal,' but future seems uncertain after third straight defeat

Victor Ortiz didn't say much after his loss to Luis Collazo, but he's not making a big deal out of his KO-2 defeat, his third straight setback.

Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

Victor Ortiz's boxing future may look murky to many of us -- including promoter Oscar De La Hoya, who says Ortiz should retire -- after last night's KO-2 loss to Luis Collazo.

But Ortiz (29-5-2, 22 KO), who may reveal more soon (or not so soon), wasn't saying anything dramatic after the fight, in which he was caught with a right hook, went down, and didn't respond to the referee's ten count.

"I'm good," said Ortiz, who turned 27 today. "I got caught. No big deal. It happens. I put my heart out there."

"Heart" has been a consistent question about Ortiz since a 2009 loss to Marcos Maidana, after which he said in a post-fight interview that he wasn't sure if he "deserved" to be getting beaten up the way he was that night. After a 2011 win over Andre Berto where Ortiz showed a lot of resolve, he's now lost three in a row to:

  • Floyd Mayweather, after Ortiz lost his control of his emotions and headbutted Mayweather, leading to the bizarre "sucker punch" KO;
  • Josesito Lopez, after Ortiz pulled himself out of the fight understandably after fighting through a broken jaw;
  • and now Collazo, with Victor seemingly a bit shy about getting cracked in that jaw after an 18-month layoff.

It's really hard to predict what Ortiz could do from here. He's talented, but has major technical flaws as a fighter that Collazo (35-5, 17 KO) says he studied and thus exposed, such as Ortiz coming in very wide and leaving himself open to counters. Collazo's right hook was well-timed and landed hard, but it's not like Ortiz instantly went down. He turned his back, stumbled, and went down. Surely he was wobbled and his balance was off, but it seemed he could have gotten up. And it seemed he just didn't want to.

Is Ortiz finished? Is there even any way to tell with someone as inconsistent as Victor?

Sign up for the newsletter Sign up for the Bad Left Hook Daily Roundup newsletter!

A daily roundup of all your global boxing news from Bad Left Hook