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Victor Ortiz and Andre Berto ready to duplicate 2011 war

Fighters Network
27
Apr
Photo by Lina Baker / InstantBoxing.com

Photo by Lina Baker / InstantBoxing.com

Five years ago Victor Ortiz and Andre Berto engaged in a high-stakes battle to see who would be the next entrant in the Floyd Mayweather Jr. sweepstakes. Ortiz took the fight to the then-unbeaten Berto and the two engaged in a thrilling battle that would find Ortiz pulling out the unanimous decision. Both turned in career-defining performances but neither has quite been the same since that night on April 16, 2011.

Although he beat Berto in easily his best performance to date, Ortiz (31-5-2) went on a slide and was stopped in three fights by Mayweather, Josesito Lopez and Luis Collazo before righting the ship with victories against lesser known fighters Manuel Perez and Gilberto Sanchez Leon. As for Berto (30-4), he would eventually get a shot at Mayweather last September but has only gone 3-3 in his last six with losses against the aforementioned Mayweather, as well as Jesus Soto Karass and Robert Guerrero. He has scored victories against Josesito Lopez, Jan Zaveck and Steve Upsher Chambers, but his stock has certainly taken a hit since he last met Ortiz.

So now the two will meet again on Saturday in a rematch five years in the making. But, for better or worse, both are in quite different places than they were when they first met.

“I don’t like to speak too much on the past but a lot of different things went on in that camp,” Berto said on a recent conference call to discuss the rematch. “When you’re young and dealing with a lot you take things for granted. He’s a fighter and at any given time he can get in there and give the performance of his life. I’m not taking anything for granted.”



Berto’s health has betrayed him over the years as his shoulder issues have limited his ability in the ring. But the former welterweight champion says that he’s mentally stronger than he’s ever been. And no matter what has been going on behind the scenes, Berto has kept his eye on Ortiz because it’s certainly the one fight he wants to get back.

“I don’t take any fight personally because this is all business for me,” Berto said. “But this is the fight I always thought to that no matter what happens in my career we have to make do it again. It’s a monkey on my back that I need to handle.”

As for Ortiz, there were questions whether he would retire after losing three fights in a row. Some wondered if his heart was still in fighting as it appeared that he would be heading to Hollywood where it was lucrative and safer. But boxing is in Ortiz’ blood and the fight is exactly what he needs to jumpstart his engine again.

“I don’t need to box. I turned down two movies and I turned them down because I want to be back to where I came from,” Ortiz said. “I’m not done with boxing. I had a couple of breaks but just because I was fixing myself the media wrote me off. I didn’t retire. Stuff happened, man. I never hung up anything besides the posters in my room or the pictures on my wall. The media wrote me off. I keep getting offers for movies and I keep turning them down because boxing is my career.”

While Berto doesn’t take this fight personally, Ortiz does. He fully expects Berto to attempt to redeem himself this weekend and isn’t going to roll over. And, because of that, he says that this fight will replicate the 2011 showdown that many deemed as “Fight of the Year.”

“Berto is coming in at 100 mph to take my head off,” Ortiz said. “We’re prepared fully for one another. Nowadays you don’t get that. You get a false advertisement of fighters ready for war. I know he’s coming in prepared. It’s going to be one of those exciting fights.”

Although they won’t admit it, this fight will have heavy implications on their respective futures in the sport. At this stage in their career, a loss would be devastating. And that sense of urgency could lead this to being an entertaining brawl where neither man can afford to take a step back.

“It’s like two trains colliding,” Ortiz said.

But only one will emerge victorious.

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