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The Dream Match: De La Hoya vs. Pacquiao

December 6, 2008

MGM Grand-Las Vegas, Nevada

WBO NABO Junior Welterweight (140 pounds) 12-Round Championship Match:

Victor Ortiz (22-1-1, 17 KO's, 140 pounds) (c) vs. Jeff Resto (22-2, 13 KO's, 140 pounds)

Ortiz won this championship when it was vacant in his last match via technical knockout at 2:25 of round 5 over Robert Arrieta on September 13, 2008 at the MGM Grand on the undercard of Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Joel Casamayor. Ortiz scored 3 knockdowns on the way to stopping Arrieta that night. The previous champion was Victor Manuel Cayo who vacated this belt to stay in his home country of the Dominican Republic competing for another meaningless belt. Ortiz is making his first defense of this trinket.

Ortiz had a good amateur boxing career that culminated when he won the 2003 PAL Championship at 132 pounds. Since turning pro, Ortiz has becomeanother one of Golden Boy Promotions' top prospects.

The 2 blemishes on Ortiz' record are highly questionable. The loss came via spurious disqualification to Corey Alarcon at 2:59 of round 1 on June 3, 2005 at the Performing Arts Center in Oxnard, California. Ortiz' draw came on January 19, 2007 in a match with Marvin Cordova, Jr. at the Dodge Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. The match was stopped after round 1, when Ortiz was ruled unable to continue due to a cut cause by an accidental foul. Under the unified rules of boxing, a match stopped by a cut that is caused an unintentional foul before the end of round 4 goes in the books as a no contest. Strangely, in this case it went into the record books as a draw.

Ortiz is unranked by The Ring and the number 18 ranked boxer at 140 pounds by boxrec.com.

The statistics show Resto has been brought in to lose this match. This is Resto's second scheduled 12-round match. The other was a September 26, 2003 match with Carlos Maussa at the Memorial Coliseum in Corpus Christi, Texas. Maussa stopped Resto via technical knockout at 2 minutes of round 6. That is also the last time Resto has weighed-in for a match at 140 pounds or less. This is only the fourth time Resto has weighed in at 140 pounds or less. The other 2-times were on May 30, 1998 and in his debut match on March 28, 1997. Finally, this is the first boxer Resto has faced that uses the southpaw stance.

Resto's last match was a 10-round majority decision victory over Hector Alatorre on the undercard of De La Hoya vs. Steve Forbes on May 2, 2008 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. It was Resto's first scheduled 10-rounder since he defeated Michael Warrick via technical knockout at 1:53 of round 10 on April 28, 2005.

Resto is unranked by The Ring and the number 166 ranked boxer at 147 pounds by boxrec.com.

At 21-years-old, Ortiz is 10 years younger then the 31-year-old Resto. Resto has the height advantage standing 5' 11" tall, while Ortiz stands 5' 9" tall. The challenger has the reach advantage with a 24" arm length, compared to the 23" arm length of Ortiz. Ortiz will be the heavier boxer in the ring having unofficially rehydrated to 154 pounds. Resto has unofficially rehydrated to 149 pounds. Both boxers are naturally right-handed. However, only Resto will employ the orthodox stance. Ortiz will box out of the southpaw stance.

Open scoring will be used in this match. All of the judges keeping official score of this match are from Nevada. The referee is Russell Mora.

Both boxers are starting the match in the southpaw stance. With 1:50 to go in round 1, Ortiz finishes a combination with a straight left hand that sends Resto to the canvas. Resto successfully answers the referees count to continue with 1:38 to go in the round. The challengers legs still appear a little unsteady and he may be bleeding from the nose. Another straight left sends Resto down into the ropes for the second knockdown of round 1 with 1:25 still to go in the round. The 3 knockdown rule is not in effect. Resto is severely over-matched. The referee rules Resto is okay to continue with 1:13 to go in the round. However, Resto's chances of making it out of this round appear bad. Ortiz is setting Resto up with a right jab then throwing the straight left. Resto is not seeing the straight left coming and that is why the challenger has had to pick himself up off the mat twice. Resto switched to his normal orthodox stance in the middle of round 1 and had relatively better success with that. However, Ortiz wins round 1 on everyone's scorecard, 10-7. The champion should finish the match in round 2. A combination capped by a left hook drops Resto for the third time in the match with 1:53 to go in round 2. The referee is going to apply a count, rather then stop the match right here. The match should probably be stopped here, Resto has taken enough punishment. Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward, who is doing color commentary on this broadcast for HBO, thought the match should have been stopped with 50 seconds to go in round 1. At that time, Resto was taking some clean power shots to the head against the ropes. Either way, the challenger has endured enough in this match. Resto stood at 9. Then, the ref waved it off saying, "No." Resto had given the boxer code for he was done and the referee listened. The referee did a good job here.

The official outcome from Michael Buffer is that: at 1:19 of round 2 the referee has called a stop to this contest making the winner by technical knockout and still WBO NABO Junior Welterweight Champion, "Vicious" Victor Ortiz. The win moves Ortiz to 23-1-1 with now 18 wins coming by way of knockout.

The final punchstat numbers have Ortiz landing 42 of the 85 total punches he threw, for an excellent 49% total connect percentage. Resto landed only 8 of the 48 total punches he threw, for a 17% total connect percentage.

Ortiz said in his post match interview that he expected a more competitive match. The champion said he will face whoever his management tells him to face next.

The Oxnard, California resident was dominant in this match. He gave a very good post match interview. Ortiz is a long way from challenging Ricky Hatton. However, he could be ready to face someone in the top 10 at 140 pounds in 2 matches. It is hard to judge his skills based on this performance. He is very young. Therefore, there is no need to rush him into matches against top opponents when he has not gone more rounds and been tested against lesser competition.

This was probably Resto's last match. He was on a provisional promotional deal with Golden Boy Promotions that expires early next year. Resto needed a strong performance here to get the contract renewed or for another major promoter to be interested in signing him. This would not count as a strong performance. Resto has a good day job back home. He will be able to live a good life and take care of his family working a normal job.