By Rob Smith: Former WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz (29-3-2, 22 KO’s) will have settle for facing replacement opponent Josesito Lopez (29-4, 17 KO’s) for the trusty WBC Silver welterweight title at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Lopez, 27, will be stepping in for Andre Berto, who allegedly tested positive for the steroid Nandrolone.
On the undercard will be heavyweight contender Chris Arreola (35-2, 30 KO’s) against an opponent still to be determined in a 10 round bout. Also the card will have light welterweight contenders Humberto Soto (58-7-2, 34 KO’s) facing Lucas Matthysse (30-2, 28 KO’s) in a fight for the vacant WBC Continental Americas light welterweight title.
Arreola, #1 WBC, #3 IBF, #4 WBO, #8 WBA, is poised for another title shot against one of the Klitschko brothers as long as he doesn’t lose his next fight. Arreola could fight IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in November or December at Madison Square Garden in New York. Unfortunately, Arreola hasn’t done much since getting dominated and stopped by Vitali in the 10th round in September 2009. Arreola was also beaten by Tomasz Adamek in April 2010. But since then, Arreola has gone soft with strictly 2nd opposition until recently when he defeated WBC contender Eric Molina by a 1st round knockout last February. The WBC was the only sanctioning body that had Molina ranked in the top 15, and in hindsight, they probably should have had him ranked below the top 15 spot because he looked completely out of his class against Arreola. It was a terrible mismatch.
Arreola likely will be taking on another 2nd tier opponent so he can keep winning. If he faces someone too good, he’ll likely get beaten again. He’s good power, but he can be out-boxed and that will likely continue to be a problem for him into the future.
It’s hard to get up for a fight between Ortiz and Lopez when Lopez was already beaten by Jessie Vargas in his last fight last September.
Although Lopez fans think he should have won that fight, he still looked like nothing special. You can’t say he’s young because he’s 27, two years older than Ortiz. What Lopez lacks is power, and I can’t see him getting any stronger as he gets older. Ortiz should be able to batter Lopez and either stop him or give him a bad beating as long as Ortiz doesn’t try and box him. It’s no secret that Lopez will be trying to put a lot of pressure on Ortiz to try and duplicate what Marcos Maidana and Floyd Mayweather did to him. Unfortunately for Lopez, he doesn’t have the power or the skills to do to Ortiz what those guys did.
Other fights on the card:
Super bantamweight Jamal Parram vs. Randy Caballero
Middleweight J’Leon Love vs. TBA