Andre Berto learns his lesson and stops Victor Ortiz in the fourth round
Flashbacks can prove haunting, but instead of caving in to an aching memory Saturday night, Andre Berto embraced a lesson from the past and brought the pain.
Berto shrugged off a second-round knockdown and avenged his loss in boxing’s 2011 fight of the year by rallying to knock out Victor Ortiz in the fourth round at StubHub Center.
Five years ago, Berto twice knocked down Ortiz, but couldn’t finish him, and was ultimately dealt his first career loss, by unanimous decision.
“I’m not going to let him recover from this one,” Berto said he thought to himself after dropping Ortiz earlier in the fourth round with a vicious uppercut. “That was my mistake in the first fight, knocking him down with good shots, letting him get back up. I was in great shape. I was going to catch him.”
After an exchange, Hollywood’s Berto (31-4, 24 knockouts) indeed found Ortiz with two consecutive heavy punches to the face, dropping the former welterweight champion from Oxnard to the canvas.
Ortiz (31-6-2), hounded by criticism over questions of his heart, sought to show it was there by struggling to rise. Referee Jack Reiss asked him if he wanted to continue and wasn’t satisfied with the response, waving his arms to signal the fight was over 1 minute 14 seconds into the fourth.
The crowd showered more boos upon Ortiz, and some of the 7,760 fans even lunged at him on his way from the ring to his dressing room.
“I didn’t see it coming,” Ortiz said of the Berto punches that dropped him. “The guy doesn’t hit soft. I’ll be back. I haven’t had the perfect career, but I guarantee all the fans here enjoyed my fight.”
The fighters butted heads in a feeling-out first round and Ortiz was cut on the forehead. He found Berto with a straight left near the end of the second round, dropping the former welterweight champion who was fighting for the first time since his September loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr.
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“I fell asleep for two seconds, my feet were tangled, I fell on my butt,” Berto said. “I wasn’t hurt, it was like, ‘Damn ...’”
Before the fourth, Berto said his trainer Virgil Hunter told him to pay attention to Ortiz ducking his head forward. When Ortiz did, Berto unleashed the uppercut he worked to perfect in training camp. Berto knew he had a wounded foe.
“Me, mentally, I was in dog mode,” Berto said. “I let him walk through it the first time … he was the guy who gave me my first loss and it’s been looming for years.
“This time, I’m in shape and [thought] if I have to hurt him, I will. It was the most satisfying win of my career.”
Unbeaten World Boxing Council welterweight champion Danny Garcia was a Fox analyst for the bout, a not-so-subtle hint from the Premier Boxing Champions of who probably awaits Berto next.
“It’ll be a tremendous fight,” Berto said. “I bring the power, I bring the speed, as you can all see, and it’s something I think you’ll see.”
Said Garcia: “It was a great fight and [Berto] is a potential matchup. It’s an easy fight to make because we both fight for Premier Boxing Champions, and it makes a lot of sense.”
On the undercard, Washington light-heavyweight Thomas Williams responded to getting rocked and knocked back to the ropes by former super-middleweight title challenger Edwin Rodriguez in the second round by knocking out Rodriguez with a right-left combination with one second remaining in the round.
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Williams said he feels strongly positioned to fight WBC light-heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson next, telling reporters to expect an announcement later in May.
Mexico’s Jorge Lara impressively opened the Fox-televised portion of the card with a relentless barrage of punches on countryman and former three-division world champion Fernando Montiel, scoring three knockdowns before knocking out Montiel 97 seconds into the first round.
“I know I’m powerful. I never had the opportunity to prove it in the big time until now,” said Lara (28-0-2, 20 KOs). “The plan was … exactly what happened. I wanted the people to see who Jorge Lara was. After the first knockdown, I knew he wouldn’t get past the first round.
“It’s an honor to beat a great champion like he was.”
Twitter: @latimespugmire
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