By Pattee Mak.
On April 16, 2011, DiBella Entertainment in association with Golden Boy Promotions promoted another exciting bout card at MGM Grand Arena at Foxwoods Resorts and Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut. This event was for the WBC (World Boxing Council) Welterweight Championship and was aired live on HBO. Andre Berto an orthodox fighter from Winter Haven, Florida and former 2004 Haitian Olympian fought against “Vicious” Victor Ortiz, a southpaw from Ventura, California. Berto’s trainer for this event was Danny Garcia and Ortiz’s trainer was Tony Morgan.
Throughout the entire night both opponents put on an exciting show. Everyone around me was yelling, screaming, chatting and cheering for their fighter. During the match both fighters hit the canvas more than once. In the 6th round Berto landed a fantastic right hand on Ortiz but that didn’t stop Ortiz because he came back with a left. In the 10th round the referee deducted a point from Ortiz for a punch behind the head. Ortiz seemed confident that he was the victorious but once again the final vote comes from the judge’s scorecards. They were as follows: 115-110, 114-112, 114-111. Congrats is in order to the new WBC Welterweight World Champion “Vicious” Victor Ortiz (29-2-2).
Other bouts of the evening:
Thomas Dulorme vs. Harrison Cuello. Winner – Dulorme
Sonya Lamonakis vs. Gigi Jackson. Winner – Lamonakis
Luis Rosa vs. Joseliz Cepeda. Winner – Rosa
Deandre Latimore vs. Dennis Sharpe. Winner – Latimore
Joseph Elegele vs. Angel Hernandez. Winner – Elegele
J’Leon Love vs. J.C. Peterson. Winner – Love
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
