Ortiz Stops Clottey In 10th Round TKO

victor ortiz31.08.07 – By Scott Frake: Welterweight prospect Victor Ortiz (19-1-1, 14 KOs) stopped Emmanuel Clottey (24-8, 14 KOs) with seconds to go in the 10th round on Thursday night at the Grand Plaza, in Houston, Texas. For the most part, the fight was a tiresome affair due to Clottey’s (the older brother of WBC # 5 ranked welterweight Joshua Clottey) reluctance to want to mix it up in any real meaningful way during the fight. In the early part of the fight, the 20-year old Ortiz did all the fighting, while Clottey attempted to slip punches and get in position to counter.

Although known mostly as a counter puncher during his career, Clottey, 33, appeared unable (for whatever reason) to let his hands go even when Ortiz was wide open for punches.

Round after round, the southpaw Ortiz landed jabs and straight left hands pretty much at will without even a hint of retaliation from Clottey. It was more like a sparring session than an actual fight, to be honestly. It was also strange because of Clottey’s close resemblance to his brother Joshua, who would have eaten Ortiz up with combinations and sent him packing early on.

Ortiz staggered Clottey with a left hand shot in the sixth round. However, Clottey recovered well and remained an elusive target for the rest of the round.

In the seventh round, Ortiz hurt Clottey again with a left hand, causing him to clinch and hold on. However, Ortiz had difficulty putting his punches together to finish him off, as was the case in the previous round.

In the eighth round, the referee deducted two points from Clottey for hooking his arm around Ortiz, and causing him to fall to the canvas. The points didn’t appear justified, though, but it hardly mattered regardless with Clottey so hopelessly behind and doing so little offensively.

In the tenth round, Ortiz knocked Clottey down just as he was attempting to land a rare shot of his own. Ortiz’s right – a chopping right hand – got there first, however, and sent Clottey to the canvas. After getting up, Ortiz was all over him and landed a flurry of punches which sent Clottey staggering backwards to the canvas. This time, the referee Ronnie Ralston counted him out and halted the fight at 2:59 of the 10th round.

It was perhaps one of the weakest performances I’ve seen from a fighter in quite some time, and even more strange, considering that it was coming from a ring veteran and brother of Joshua Clottey. I’d like to give Ortiz some credit for the win, but, to be honest, I wasn’t all that impressed with him despite his victory. He seemed tentative and robotic, and lacked the kind of power and combinations he’s going to need to cut it against the top fighters in the welterweight division. However, he’s only 20, so perhaps he will improve in the coming years.