- Carlos Ortiz
Carlos Ortiz (born
September 9 ,1936 ) is a Puerto Rican who was a three time worldboxing champion, twice in the lightweight division and once in the Jr. Welterweights.Ortiz, born in Ponce, started his professional career in 1955 with a first round
knockout ofHarry Bell inNew York . He moved from Puerto Rico to New York before he began boxing as a professional, he would campaign there during the first stages of his career. After 9 bouts there, he fought outside New York for the first time, moving toMassachusetts to knockAl Duarte out in 4 rounds. His next 3 bouts were also outside New York, but he stayed within the confines ofNew England , as they happened, once again in Massachusetts, and inNew Jersey .He returned to New York again and won 4 more bouts in a row, then made his
California debut, beatingMickey Northrup by a decision in 10 rounds. 2 more fights in California and one in New York went by, after which he returned to California to meetLou Filippo , nowadays a member of theInternational Boxing Hall Of Fame as a referee. Filippo was also one of the guys who participated in 1982'sRocky III , as one of the referees. The first time, it was declared a no-contest after 9 rounds, but in the second, Carlos prevailed, by a knockout in 9. 5 more wins followed, and then he metJohnny Busso , who handled Carlos his first loss, on a 10 round decision. That fight was held in New York, and in an immediate rematch between Ortiz and Busso, Carlos won, also by a 10 round decision, and also in New York.Next Carlos flew to
England to meetDave Charnley , who was considered one of the top challengers of that time. Ortiz won the fight at atHarringay Arena on a 10 round decision, after which promoters thought he was ready for a world title try.Carlos met
Kenny Lane for the vacant world Jr. Welterweight title, in New York on the night ofJune 12 ,1959 . Lane had handled Carlos his second loss months before, winning a 10 round decision over Ortiz inFlorida . This time, Carlos became theWorld 's Jr Welterweight champion, knocking out Lane in 2 rounds.Ortiz had become the first Puerto Rican world boxing champion sinceSixto Escobar more than 30 years before, and only the second Puerto Rican world boxing champion ever. Unfortunately for him, not much importance was being given to that division at the time, since that division's title had been vacant for 13 years. But Carlos defended his title twice, knocking out former world lightweight championBattling Torres in Torres' background of Los Angeles, and beatingDuilio Loi in 15 rounds by decision atSan Francisco .His next fight was a rematch with Loi, and it took Ortiz to
Milan ,Italy to defend his crown. This time, it was Loi's turn to become a world champion, winning by a 15 round decision.After another win, Ortiz travelled to Milan once again, and met Loi in a rubber match. This time, he lost again, by 15 round decision.
Instead of going up in weight, like most boxers throughout history have done after losing the title in their original division, Ortiz went "down" in weight, and challenged world champion Joe Brown (also a member of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame). Ortiz won a 15 round decision over Brown on April 21 of 1962 in Las Vegas, to win his second world title, this time in his second championship division. Ortiz defended with a 5 round knockout of
Teruo Kosaka inTokyo before making his Puerto Rican debut, with a 13 round knockout win overDoug Valiant to retain his title onApril 7 ,1963 in San Juan.A knockout win in 14 rounds over another hall of famer,
Gabriel Elorde , "Flash" in thePhilippines followed, and then a remach with Lane, this time Ortiz retaining his world Lightweight title with a 15 round decision in San Juan. But in 1965 he went toPanama and fought yet another member of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame,Ismael Laguna who defeated him in 15 rounds to claim Ortiz's world Lightweight title. A rematch in San Juan followed, and Ortiz regained the world Lightweight title beating Laguna by a 15 round decision also.1966 saw Ortiz draw with world Jr Welterweight champion
Nicolino Locche in a ten round non-title affair inArgentina , and retain his title vsJohnny Bizarro (KO in 12 in Pittsburgh),Sugar Ramos (another International Boxing Hall Of Fame Member, ko in 5 rounds inMexico City ) and Flash Elorde, also by ko in 14 at a New York rematch. The Ramos fight proved controversial, because the WBC's president proclaimed at first that the punch with which Ortiz had beaten Ramos with had been illegal, but he later reconsidered and gave Ortiz the title, and the knockout victory, back, with the condition that a rematch be fought in the future.And so 1967 came, and Ortiz and Ramos met once again, this time in San Juan. Ortiz retained the title by a knockout in 4 rounds, and this time the bout went without any controversies. Then, he and Laguna fought a third time, and Ortiz retained his title by a 15 round decision in New York.
June 29 ,1968 , proved to be Ortiz's last day as a world champion, as he lost his world lightweight title to Dominican Carlos Cruz on a 15 round decision in the Dominican Republic. There was going to be a rematch to be held in San Juan, but Cruz died in theDominicana De Aviacion DC-9 crash off the Dominican Republic'sAtlantic Ocean coast when he was flying to meet Ortiz in a rematch, in the same plane crash that also killed most members of the Puerto Rican Women's National Volleyball team, as well as the rest of the passengers on the plane (see:Dominicana DC-9 air disaster ).Ortiz kept on fighting, but he never got another chance at a world title. He retired after losing at the
Madison Square Garden by a knockout in 6 rounds toKen Buchanan . It was the only time he was stopped in his career. His final record was of 61 wins, 7 losses and 1 draw, with one bout declared a no-contest and 30 knockout wins.Ortiz is also a member of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame and he always enjoys to take photos with his fans and sign
autographs for them.See also
*
List of famous Puerto Ricans
*List of lightweight boxing champions *
List of WBC world champions
*List of undisputed boxing champions
*List of Puerto Rican boxing world champions External links
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