Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty Images
“Vicious” Victor Ortiz (31-5-2, 23 KOs) reemerged onto the boxing scene tonight in his debut on Premier Boxing Champions at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. Ortiz found himself taking a backseat to headliners Omar Figueroa and Antonio DeMarco, fighting earlier on in the day on the NBC Sports Network portion of the bouts.
Ortiz was last seen defeating Manuel Perez back in December of last year, but an injury to his wrist kept him away from the ring until now. Over the past few days leading up to the bout, Ortiz received heavy criticism for his choice in virtually unknown opponent, Gilberto Sanchez-Leon (31-15-2, 13 KOs).
The opening round was as eventful as watching clouds move, but out of nowhere, Ortiz scored a knockdown just before the end of the round.
Sanchez’s corner complained the fall came from a low blow, but the remained knockdown remained. The second and third rounds saw Ortiz begin to pick up his punch output and comfort level.
Ortiz began to land his straight left hand pretty flush, and eventually a right hook to the head dropped Sanchez in the third. After the second knockdown, Sanchez retreated away from Ortiz for most of the rounds taking shot after shot.
By the 7th round, Ortiz continued to punish Sanchez with just about every punch in his arsenal, but Sanchez would not go down or quit. While Sanchez felt he still had some fight in him, his corner thought otherwise and stopped the bout in the 8th.
Ortiz would later comment on Sanchez after the bout.
“It was a good fight man. I was like ‘man, you’re a tough SOB.’ He told me he didn’t think he’d be past the first and I was like ‘dude, why’d you keeping going then?’,” said Ortiz.
Ortiz was all smiles after the bout and says he’s ready to get back into the ring with strong opposition. When asked about who could be next Ortiz stated, “I’d like to try to get the winner of Garcia and Guerrero. I think that would be a great fight.
“I’ve also heard that Josesito has been talking mess,” Ortiz continued. “I’ll fight him again and give him what he should’ve got last time.”
Ortiz claims he’s done being “Hollywood” for a while and that he’ll be back in the gym on Monday with trainer Joel Diaz to prepare for his next opponent. Whoever that is, only time will tell.
For the time being, it looks like Vicious Vic still has some fight in him.
[slideshow_deploy id=’54600′] Photos by Porfirio Barron Jr./RBRBoxing
