UAOOO Ortiz
Results from Indio, California
Shane Mosley Jr wins against Jeremy Ramos, the match was quite competitive, with a lot of exchanges; it wasn’t particularly exciting, one of Shane’s limits that were exposed is that he doesn’t hurt his opponent, in an instance he hit the body with a nice left hook, Ramos just answered with a combination and Shane must be grateful he’s tough. Regardless, he won by decision.
Seniesa Estrada vs Miranda Adkins: one of those matches we’d rather never see, it lasted about 8 seconds. I didn’t like it at all, the girl looking at her corner as the bell rang, as if to ask “what now?” Her stiff posture with both hands in front of her face, what kind of guard is it!? We all saw what happened when the bell rang. Her record, since we don’t know every single boxer, should have guaranteed a better performance, but her corner, coach, manager, should look themselves in the mirror: you can’t send out an athlete to be butchered. Let’s hope she’s alright. But, the difference proved to be enormous, and the trainers knew it…
Hector Valdez beats Josue Morales by decision, we liked this one a lot. Action, exchanges and in particular, despite his superiority, every time he made a mistake Valdez was pushed by Morales, a good fighter. Valdez needs to improve his defense, in some instances his mobility, in others the speed of his punches, but he has great phisicality, he’s young, he’s good and he has talent; his victory over Josue will allow him to work better for the future.
Evan Sanchez wins by decision against Issouf Kinda; the first thing that is evident is that Issouf is not a welterweight, he’s definitely smaller. Very good performance, he always pushed Sanchez, very young, talented and certainly with great potential, a good match for a kid that will be a good prospect without a doubt, he still has a long way to go, but he showed us good timing; one thing to note is that Issouf was knocked down in the 4th, but the hook was clearly behind the head; it was a nice match overall.
Virgil Ortiz wins by ko with Samuel Vargas
Ortiz dedicated his victory to his friend Travel Mazion, who passed away in a tragic accident a few days ago and, since misfortune never comes singly, to another friend as well, coach Raazin Richardson.
Ortiz is Ortiz! The match got to the 7th round and maybe the referee, although certainly capable, could have stopped it earlier.
In the 3rd Ortiz, as an amateur seven times national champion and junior Olympics gold medalist, while moving out of the way with the help of his arms finds himself facing Vargas’ back and receives a warning; wrong, he never hit Vargas, he just evaded masterfully.
That said, he showed his superiority everywhere. Speed, timing, combinations; not to mention ko power, also to his credit Vargas is really tough, which is not very good at certain levels in boxing. In the 5th he placed more shots, but Ortiz’ superiority was overwhelming and the match could have been stopped by the half of the 6th round, or even at the end of the 4th, considering the referee called the doctor in. Ortiz’ punches really hurt, his explosivity, the continuity of action and intensity, his opponent takes a punch and almost stays still; those punches must take the breath away. The marks on Vargas’ face leave no doubt; we hope he’s fine and we congratulate the champion, who afterwards asked for a match with a belt on the line.
Translated by Davide De Nisi (ddntrad@gmail.com)
cover image by THOM HOGAN HOGANPHOTO.
