Andre Berto Stuns Victor Ortiz with 4th Round #KO

It was supposed to be Victor Ortiz' proof that he was a boxer first and a celebrity slash movie star second but it didn't turn out that way. Berto launched Ortiz to the canvas with a big right uppercut and followed it up with a barrage of punches for which Ortiz had no answer.  He made it to his feet to the count of nine and referee Jack Reis would have let him continue except that Victor Ortiz wasn't in the mood for talk.  He didn't answer when the ref asked him if wanted to continue and Reis stopped it.

The harder working Berto looked stiff in the early rounds and seemed to be struggling to find the range when Ortiz, a southpaw, scored a flash knockdown that set Berto on his ass looking surprised. Berto was in great shape and it seemed to embarrass him more than bother him.   He described the knockdown as an event from which he would have to play 'catch-up.' It took about one more round to get the measurement right and in the fourth round, the welterweight Berto delivered the shots that stopped Ortiz. 

It wasn't a big action fight but it was interesting in its way for the reason that Ortiz has not been a very active fighter. He said in the post fight interview he had gone at his training with renewed determination  during the training camp. It did look that way in the early rounds as Ortiz surprised Berto by being on his toes and moving well.  That wasn't the way he started his career and it seemed to baffle Berto for a little while but not for long enough. The outcome of the match reminded me of that old fighter meme -- you play at some sports, you don't play boxing.

So I hope Victor Ortiz has a nice TV-film career.  He's a guy who had a lot of boxing promise but never delivered. Maybe he can play a boxer in a film.

Archie Moore Says: Time to Make the Gennady Golovkin VS. Canelo Alvarez Fight

Many people may not know of or remember a great fighter named Archie Moore -- aka "The Mongoose." Still others may not know that old Archie fought well into middle age, and that he fought middleweights to heavyweights and was about 44 years old when he lost to young up and coming Rocky Marciano.  He had about 219 pro fights. 

But who knew that Archie Moore liked to recite Shakespeare?  I don't know if this was one of Archie's favorite quotes but it might have been:

There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries...

It means there's a time for things, and if you don't seize the time and the opportunity that is there, you will lose the moment and you will forever wallow in your failures and what might have been.  Will this be the fate of champions Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez?

This is the fight the entire world wants. It's the fight GGG wants, and it's the fight Mexico wants, and I have no doubt it's the fight Canelo wants. Both fighters seek greatness and legacy. Perhaps it is more appropriate to say that both fighters, already having attained greatness, now seek legacy.

What's in the way of such a fight this year? Youth and pounds. Golovkin is age 34, a brutal and stalking puncher who seems inescapable. His KO record says it all. One could point to his record and say there are few great names on it but that is only minutiae. Look at the KO record. Do you imagine that, where any other boxer was concerned, that he could knock out almost EVERY journeyman fighter he's faced? Truth to tell, mostof GGG's opponents, just like his latest victim Wade, were not regarded as journeyman fighters until they were knocked out by the Krusher from Kazakhstan (Yeah, I know Kovalev is the Krusher but think about it). 

What I'm saying is that you're a boxing media hero when you go up undefeated against somebody like Golovkin or Alvarez. After you get KOd, they speak of you as a journeyman fighter. It's complete B.S. because you're still something that 99 percent of the people in the world cannot even hope to aspire to. Alvarez beat the great Miguel Cotto. Now Cotto is a 'journeyman' fighter? LOL -- you get in there with him then. David Lemieux is a journeyman fighter after GGG destroyed him? You try it.

Another reality: Golovkin has fought anyone who was put in front of him and few people wanted to be put in front of him even as he had a ravenous appetite for any opponents.  But the age -- I hate it when old age beats a fighter. Golovkin wants the fight now, this year if possible. If it happens when he's 38 or even 36 or 35, it won't count as much as it does now.

Canelo Alvarez, the "Cinnamon" Mexican is a great fighter now. I think the battle for the 'next big thing' is between Canelo and GGG.  I also think Canelo's promoter is right in saying his true weight is 154 pounds. He's also 25 years old. So you have the prospect of a fresh guy who has not yet reached the height of his man strength physicality and skills but is on the cusp of it, riding a wave of victories (one loss only to Floyd Mayweather Jr. ) which includes high explosive bomber James Kirkland. I mention Kirkland only because people don't really get what happened in that fight. I'm not sure I can explain it effectively either but that night I saw something in Canelo Alvarez that was in the best tradition of the sport which, when combined with is skills, heritage, and training, signals both greatness and legacy.

My conclusion isn't anything you didn't think of already. Catch weight. Both fighters give something up.  Both fighters are big draws already and will be gargantuan later for I'm sure it will be a battle which screams of rematch.  Even split of the purse. If anyone gets too greedy, it means they don't want the fight. I don't see greedy being a big part of it. I think everyone wants this fight more than any other.  Make the fight now, after Canelo dispatches Amir Khan. I uses the word 'dispatches' instead of 'destroys' because I have grown to admire Khan for his heart and his manner more than anything else (he's fighting 2 weight classes up from his normal weight). 

Make the Canelo Alvarez v. Gennady GGG. Golovkin later in 2016. It would be perfect for November.