Ortiz-Alexander ends in controversial majority draw
A crowd of 5,087 that mostly cheered on Victor Ortiz booed when the fight ended in a controversial majority draw Saturday night inside the Don Haskins Center.
Ortiz (32-6-3, 25 KOs) did battle with Devon Alexander (27-4-1, 14 KOs), who appeared to be too fast, too strong and too accurate, While Ortiz hoped to make the fight a brawl.
Toward the end of the sixth round, Ortiz landed several haymakers, but Alexander came back in the seventh with a sound attack, at times punching through Ortiz’s gloves.
Judges Glen Crawford and Javier Martinez scored the fight 114-114, while Don Griffin scored it in favor of Ortiz, 115-113.
“I thought I did enough to win them all,” Alexander said after the fight.
While Ortiz also said he thought he won the fight, he came out in the 12th round knowing only a knockout would help him win. Ortiz was already moving toward Alexander when the bell rang. Ortiz was able to land big punches, but Alexander was able to slow him down and hold Ortiz.
“He’s a champion,” Alexander said of Ortiz. “I knew he was going to come out and fight. (But) he was on his last leg.”
During a post-fight interview, Alexander told ABC-7 he was surprised when he heard one of the judges give the win to Ortiz.
“You want to know the truth,” Alexander said. “(The judge) would not look at me. I looked over and he would not look me in the eye.”
Alexander is a two-time world champ and, notably, won against Marcos Maidana and Lucas Matthysse in back-to-back fights. He also lost two unanimous decisions to Shawn Porter and Amir Khan in 2013 and 2014 respectively.
Ortiz was also the WBC welterweight champ in 2011. He even achieved success against Floyd Mayweather Jr., even though it was short lived.
After giving up three rounds, Ortiz trapped Mayweather in the corner and began unloading on the champ. But, in what has come to be known as one of the most bizarre moments in boxing, a frustrated Ortiz intentionally head butted Mayweather, busting his lip. After being docked a point, Ortiz apologized profusely to Mayweather and even hugged him in the middle ring.
Referee Joe Cortez had resumed the fight, but Ortiz stood there, still apologizing with his hands down. Without hesitation, Mayweather landed a left hook followed by a right for the knockout.
That was on Sept. 17, 2011. Since that KO loss to Mayweather, Ortiz has gone 3-4-1, including losses to Andre Berto and Josesito Lopez
On Saturday in the Haskins Center, Ortiz found some success against Devon Alexander, securing a majority draw.
