THE GREAT CARLOS ORTIZ TO ATTEND WBC CONVENTION
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 04 Nov 2011
Carlos Ortiz.
The World Boxing Council Convention at the Mandalay Bay Resort Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas will be graced by the presence of another truly great champion in Puerto Rico?s famed lightweight champion Carlos Ortiz.
The WBC informed Viva Sports that Ortiz who is considered among the best lightweights of all time z confirmed his attendance at the 49th Annual Convention that will take place from December 11 to December 17.
The WBC said ?The attendance of Ortiz is an important happening due to his great history in boxing.
Ortiz is 75 years old, he was born in Ponce, in the south of Puerto Rico and he currently lives in New York.?
He was light and super lightweight champion who during his career he faced the most important fighters of his time, defeating boxers of the caliber of Gabriel ?Flash? Elorde, Ultiminio Ramos, Ismael Laguna, Nicolino Locche, Duilio Loi, Joe Brown, Lenny Mathews, Cisco Andrade, Battling Torres, Douglas Vaillant, Johnny Bizarro and many others.
Ortiz, according to the WBC, fought 16 main cards and he retired with a professional record of 61 wins 30 KO?s 1 draw and 7 losses.
WBC president Don Jose Sulaiman said ?We?ll wait with a lot of joy the attendance of this great boxer, who was also known as the ?Cat?.?
Filipino fight fans remember Ortiz for his two fights against Elorde who was the reigning WBC junior lightweight champion. Ortiz won both fights, the first at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium and the rematch at the original Madison Square Garden by 14th round stoppages.
In their first meeting Elorde had Ortiz in trouble in round seven but couldn?t put him away and the Puerto Rican came back to win by a 14th round TKO when referee Jimmy Wilson stopped the fight against the vehement protests of Elorde?s father-in-law Lope ?Papa? Sarreal.
In their rematch which we covered from ringside for dzHP Radio, Ortiz overwhelmed an ill-prepared Elorde inflicting the first knockout on Elorde in the 14th round when he was counted out by referee Jimmy Devlin.
Ortiz visited Manila a few years ago as special guest at the Annual Banquet of Champions commemorating the birth anniversary of Elorde.
In an interview with El Nuevo Dia in November 2009 , Ortiz compared pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao to the late ?Flash? Elorde as Pacquiao was preparing to battle WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto.
Ortiz said ?Elorde was strong and hit hard, Pacquiao is the same kind of fighter. They are same in that respect. But Pacquiao is a very aggressive southpaw. One has to really understand how to fight southpaws and Cotto is going to have a problems there,? Ortiz said. ?Elorde was a good fighter as well as Pacquiao but I can?t really say who is better.?
Ortiz also recalls his time in the Philippines and how hospitable the people were to him after he defeated Flash Elorde.
?If I were to be born again as a boxer, I would move to the Philippines. In the Philippines they treated me as if I was one of them. I fell in love with the Philippines with how well they treated me. They are very good people over there. You don?t have any idea of how well I was treated,? Ortiz told El Nuevo Dia
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