Ortiz v. Maidana: Round by Round

Time to peel myself away from EA's Fight Night Round 4 to watch some real boxing. Tonight's recently abbreviated card contains Victor Ortiz against Marcos Maidana. This fight is another step in Ortiz's process in becoming a boxing superstar. Golden Boy Promotions is putting a big push behind him to speed up this process. We'll see what he brings to the ring tonight.

The HBO broadcast has just started live from the Staples Center in L.A. It looks like the event has drawn a good crowd. Now HBO runs a feature story on Ortiz's struggles in life.

Still no start of the fight yet from HBO. They're filling some time since the card is only one fight. They now talk about Ortiz's opponent, Maidana.

It looks like things are getting underway now. Marcos Maidana makes his way to the ring first to some boos. This is his first fight in the U.S.

Vic Ortiz comes to the ring now to a Michael Jackson medley. The HBO team tells us that with his passing, Ortiz devoted his ring walk to MJ.

Here we go.

Round 1

Maidana steps forward first and throws a jab, followed by a fast flurry. Ortiz has an EA sponsorship on his trunks. He lands a left hook. Maidana steps forward again and lands two good hooks. Ortiz fires back and drops Maidana with a left. Maidana comes forward and throws one punch and drops Ortiz! Ortiz is back up but he is in big trouble. He holds on to stay up. He doesn't have his legs under him. Maidana is trying to end the show. Ortiz looks better now. The bell rings. What an incredible round.

Spartan117: 10-10

Franchise: 10-10

Round 2

Ortiz looks much better now. He's firing some big shots now. He lands two punches to the body. Maidana unleashes a big combo and tries to turn the fight into a brawl. He lands a good right hook in the process. Both fighters are throwing nothing but power punches. Ortiz gets backed against the ropes. Maidana throws a combo to the head and body. Ortiz lands a wide left hand. Ortiz lands a huge right and drops Maidana. He's really pouring it on. Maidana makes it up. Ortiz tries to close the show and knocks Maidana down again. He makes it up as the bell rings.

Spartan117: 10-7 Ortiz

Franchise: 10-7 Ortiz

Round 3

An Ortiz chant starts. Oscar De La Hoya shouts from ringside to Ortiz, telling him to be smart. Maidana lands a right hand. Ortiz backs Maidana into the the corner and lands a major right hand. Maidana fires back with a right hand head shot. Ortiz lands a straight left. Ortiz lands a good left hook and Maidana barely misses a with a big left. Ortiz gets Maidana in the corner again but doesn't land that much.

Spartan117: 10-9 Ortiz

Franchise: 10-9 Ortiz

Round 4

Ortiz comes forward and lands a straight left. Maidana lands a sneaky, strong right hand. Ortiz turns up the aggression and throws a left-right combo of hooks. He lands a great straight left again. Ortiz misses with another straight and Maidana barely misses with a counter punch. Ortiz isn't jabbing enough and Emmanuel Steward discusses it. Ortiz misses a wide left hand. There's some swelling under the left eye of Maidana.

Spartan117: 10-9 Ortiz

Franchise: 10-9 Ortiz

Round 5

Ortiz slips a left hook. He lands a huge right hand and Maidana backs up against the ropes. Ortiz springs into action and lands a good uppercut. Ortiz gets caught coming forward with a right from Maidana. Now Maidana is the aggressor. Ortiz gets hit harder. A cut has opened on the right eyebrow of Ortiz. They go toe to toe and trade huge power punches. It's tough to tell if the cut was opened by a headbutt or punch. Ortiz got absolutely hammered at the end of the round with two right hands. He's lucky the round ended.

Spartan117: 10-9 Maidana

Franchise: 10-9 Maidana

Round 6

The replay between rounds shows that the cut was definitely caused by a punch. Maidana comes right out and tries to close the show. Ortiz is in big, big trouble. Maidana lands too much and Ortiz goes down. He gets up but doesn't look like he wants to continue. The doctor looks at him and stops it. It's over.

The winner by TKO... and interim WBA super lightweight champion... Marcos Maidana.

Ortiz's face is in bad shape. Lots of swelling under the right eye and a cut over the left. He's in the ring talking to De La Hoya and Shane Mosley.

In the post-fight interview, Maidana says that the knockdowns made him hungry to fight harder. He said he was well prepared and well trained and ready for a tough bout. He adds that he knew he could take Ortiz after knocking him down the first time. He says he'll fight anyone his management throws at him.

Now Vic gets interviewed. He thought it was going to be an early night after the first knockdown. He's asked if being the headliner changed his style. He responds that the crowd did get to him and he wanted to knock Maidana out, making him stray from his game plan. He says the knockdown that he suffered really hurt him. He tips his cap to Maidana and says he was the better man tonight. Ortiz adds that he has a lot of thinking to do.

Posted by spartan117