Carlos Ortiz-the golden lightweight

[BoztheMadman]

Carlos Ortiz was and is one of the greatest lightweights in history and one of the best boxers Puerto Rican archipelago produced in its rich boxing history. He won the world title three times, once as a light welterweight and twice as a lightweight. He started campaigning as a light welterweight but after losing his title and the rematch with Duilio Loi, chose to campaign at lightweight and it is there he made his greatness. He was a tough and strong guy who liked a good scrap but was a good technical boxer also and packed a decent punch. In 1967, he was chosen as the Boxing Writer's Association of America's fighter of the year, an award that is also known as the Sugar Ray Robinson award. He is also the first Puerto Rican boxer to get inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. All in all-he was no joke this man!

 

He was born on 9 September 1936 in Ponce, Puerto Rico. His professional career began in 1955, with a first round knockout of Harry Bell. He went 26-0 with 1 no decision before he was upset for the first time against Johnny Busso in 1958, who beat him by a questionable split decision. Due to the controversy, he was given a rematch and beat Busso this time by unanimous decision. However, in his very next match he would get upset again, this time by the slick Kenny Lane, who got the best of him in a very close fight by majority decision. Ortiz was the better man in the first half but then seemed to tire and lost the second half of the fight. He expressed disappointment and wished to fight Lane again. And he got his wish: after stopping Len Matthews by TKO 6, the two faced off again in June 1959, this time for the vacant world light welterweight title. After an even first round, Lane was knocked down in the second and seriously cut over the right eye and at the bridge of the nose, both caused by punches from Ortiz. Thus the fight was stopped and Ortiz victorious by TKO 2, taking his first world belt home. It took almost eight months before he made his first defense, knocking out the 31-0 Mexican brawler Battling Torres in the tenth round after being in control of the fight all the way. In his second defense four months later, in June 1960, he met for the first time his arch-nemesis: the skilled and tough Italian Dulio Loi, another future hall of famer. The fight was held in Daly City, California and after 15 close and tough rounds, Ortiz took home a split decision victory, winning the first in a trilogy of fights against Loi. He then travelled to Milan, Italy to face Loi, who had endeared himself to everyone with his gutsy performance in the first fight. This time it would be Loi who emerged victorious after another very close and hard-fought fight. He was handed a majority decision and thus Ortiz's first world championship reign was over.

 

He then took on the tough and hard hitting Cisco Andrade and though he was a better man and won on points, received a cut and a swollen left eye. It was then time for a rubbermatch against Loi, again in Milan, at San Siro stadium, May '61. Ortiz was knocked down for the second time in his career and lost a clear decision, referee's scorecard being the closest of the three, 70-67. He then decided to move down to lightweight and won his first fight there against the Cuban Doug Vaillant, with a close but unanimous decision. His second fight as a lightweight was also rather tough: he took on Paolo Rosi, another Italian, and was in control of the fight in the early rounds but from the fourth round and on, Rosi became more and more dangerous and in the ninth he nailed him with a huge left hook which lifted Ortiz off the floor and put him down. He rose and survived till the end of the ten-round fight to win by UD. On 21 April 1962 he received another title shot against the long-reigning and aging Joe "Old Bones" Brown. He bullied Brown from the start and stayed on top of him thruout the fight, not letting him utilize his punching power and in the end won convincingly by a wide decision. In his first defense on 3 December same year he dispatched the Japanese Teruo Kosaka by KO 5 in front of his own countrymen in Osaka. In April next year he again fought Vaillant and this time stopped him by TKO 13 after knocking him down five times. With that, he also became the WBC champion. On 15 February 1964 he travelled to Manila to take on the Pinoy legend and world super feather champion Flash Elorde. Ortiz got cut over the right eye in the second round and the gash reopened in the seventh and eight round, but he persevered and in the next round Elorde started to slow down. He took over while Elorde rallied in the 13th, but Ortiz came back in the next round and battered him against the ropes before the referee stopped it, to Elorde's protest. Elorde said he wasn't finished yet and was still fighting back, so he demanded a rematch. But before that happened, Ortiz had another score to settle, as he took on Kenny Lane and won that trilogy, knocking Lane down once and winning by UD.

 

On 10 April 1965 however, he experienced another setback as he went to Panama to defend against Ismael Laguna and lost by a majority decision which looked controversial. A rematch in San Juan followed in November and Ortiz reclaimed his title with a rather dominant performance, winning by UD. In April next year he had a fight against the great Nicolino Locche of Argentina. Ortiz had the upper hand most of the fight and Locche clinched frequently thru the 10 rounds. Yet, two officials scored it a draw and one even scored it for Locche, making many of the Argentinian fans present break out in boos. He made his next defense against Johnny Bizzarro in June and won by TKO 12 and then in October he went to Mexico to take on the former featherweight world champion, the Cuban-born Sugar Ramos. Ramos, though the shorter man by three inches, was very strong for his size and had a famed right hand punch and surprisingly he put the naturally bigger Ortiz down in the fourth but Oritz bounced back and stopped him in the fifth. There was controversy, since the referee Billy Conn first ruled the punch with which Ortiz knocked out Ramos was illegal but then changed his mind. He was also said to have given him more time than it was allowed to rise from the knockdown. The WBC then declared the title vacant and demanded of Ortiz to give Ramos a rematch. However, he first gave a rematch to Elorde, which took place in Madison Square Garden this time. This time, Ortiz was dominant all the way and knocked Elorde out in the 14th round with a big left hook. He then rematched Sugar Ramos and the fight took place in San Juan. This time there was no controversy as Ortiz stopped Ramos in the 4th round by tko, knocking him down in the last round. He would defend his title one more time in another rubbermatch against Laguna and won by UD15 at Shea Stadium in Queens.

 

And then came that fight: 29 June 1968 he went to Santo Domingo in Dominican Republic to take on the local favorite Carlos Teo Cruz. Despite being the champion and Cruz not having beaten anyone of note and sporting a record of 35-12-2, he was surprisingly knocked down in the first round and lost a disputed split decision to Cruz. It was one of the bigger upsets of that year. He was never given a rematch and Cruz would lose the title to Mando Ramos, before tragically dying in a plane crash in 1970. Ortiz continued fighting but his prime was now over and he won ten fights against lesser opposition before facing the former WBA champion Ken Buchanan of Scotland in September 1972, aged 36. Buchanan, the younger man by 9 years, dominated him and Ortiz quit on his stool after 6 rounds. An unworthy ending for such a great warrior and fighter, but at least he retired before it was too late. His record is 61(30)-7-1. Today he is a member of the IBHOF and is known for enjoying taking photos with his fans and signing autographs.

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Edited March 16, 2015 by BoztheMadman