Carlos Ortiz

Carlos Ortiz
Statistics
Nickname(s)	Ortiz c. 1966
Rated at	Lightweight Light welterweight
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Reach	70 in (177.8 cm)
Nationality	Puerto Rican
Born	(1936-09-09) September 9, 1936 Ponce, Puerto Rico
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	70
Wins	61
Wins by KO	30
Losses	7
Draws	1
No contests	1

External audio

You may hear Carlos Ortiz vs Kenny Lane II on YouTube

Carlos Ortiz (born September 9, 1936) is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer. He won three world titles, two at lightweight and once at light welterweight. Along with Félix Trinidad, Miguel Cotto, Wilfredo Gómez, Héctor Camacho, and Wilfred Benítez, Ortiz is considered among the best Puerto Rican boxers of all time by sports journalists and analysts.^[1]

Professional career

Ortiz, born in Ponce, started his professional career in 1955 with a first round knockout of Harry Bell in New 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 to Massachusetts to knock Al Duarte out in 4 rounds. His next 3 bouts were also outside New York, but he stayed within the confines of New England, as they happened, once again in Massachusetts, and in New Jersey.

He returned to New York again and won 4 more bouts in a row, then made his California debut, beating Mickey 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 meet Lou Filippo, who was subsequently inducted into the International Boxing Hall Of Fame as a referee. Filippo was also one of the guys who participated in five Rocky films. 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 met Johnny 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 meet Dave Charnley, who was considered one of the top challengers of that time. Ortiz won the fight at Harringay Arena on a 10-round decision, after which promoters thought he was ready for a world title try.

Junior welterweight world champion

Carlos met Kenny Lane for the vacant world Jr. Welterweight title, in New York on the night of June 12, 1959. Lane had handled Carlos his second loss months before, winning a 10-round decision over Ortiz in Florida. This time, Carlos became the World's Jr Welterweight champion,with a TKO of Lane at the end of 2 round. Ortiz had become the first Puerto Rican world boxing champion since Sixto 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 champion Battling Torres in Torres' home ground of Los Angeles, and beating Duilio Loi in 15 rounds by decision at San 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 traveled to Milan once again, and met Loi in a rubber match. This time, he lost again, by 15 round decision.

Lightweight world champion

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 in Tokyo before making his Puerto Rican debut, with a 13-round knockout win over Doug Valiant to retain his title on April 7, 1963 in San Juan.

A knockout win in 14 rounds over another Hall of Famer, Gabriel Elorde, Flash in the Philippines 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 to Panama 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 in Argentina, and retain his title vs Johnny Bizarro (KO in 12 in Pittsburgh), Cuban Sugar Ramos (another International Boxing Hall Of Fame Member, KO in 5 rounds in Mexico City) and Filipino 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.

Later career

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. Ortiz kept on fighting, but he never got another chance at a world title. He retired after losing at Madison Square Garden by a knockout in 6 rounds to Ken 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 taking photos with his fans and signing autographs for them.

Official professional boxing record

61 Wins (30 Knockouts), 7 Defeats (1 Knockout), 1 Draw[2]
Res.	Record	Opponent	Type	Rd., Time	Date	Location	Notes
Loss	61–7–1	Ken Buchanan	TKO	6 (10)	1972-09-20	Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
Win	61–6–1	Johnny Copeland	KO	3 (10)	1972-08-01	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Win	60–6–1	Gerardo Ferrat	KO	3 (10)	1972-06-03	International Amphitheatre, Chicago, Illinois
Win	59–6–1	Greg Potter	UD	10	1972-05-01	Inglewood Forum, Inglewood, California
Win	58–6–1	Junior Varney	TKO	7 (10)	1972-03-20	Ponce
Win	57–6–1	Leo DiFiore	KO	2 (10), 1:32	1972-02-19	Hiram Bithorn Stadium, San Juan
Win	56–6–1	Ivelaw Eastman	TKO	2 (10), 2:10	1972-01-31	Waltham, Massachusetts
Win	55–6–1	Terry Rondeau	TKO	4 (10), 2:36	1972-01-20	Exposition Building, Portland, Maine
Win	54–6–1	Bill Whittenburg	KO	7 (10)	1972-01-08	Coconut Grove Convention Center, Coconut Grove, Florida
Win	53–6–1	Jimmy Ligons	KO	3 (10), 1:19	1971-12-01	Silver Slipper, Las Vegas, Nevada
Win	52–6–1	Edmundo Leite	MD	10	1969-11-21	Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
Loss	51–6–1	Carlos Teo Cruz	SD	15	1968-06-29	Estadio Quisqueya, New York, Dominican Republic	Lost Lineal, The Ring, WBC & WBA world lightweight titles.
Win	51–5–1	Ismael Laguna	UD	15	1967-08-16	Shea Stadium, Queens, New York	Retained Lineal, The Ring, WBC & WBA world lightweight titles.
Win	50–5–1	Sugar Ramos	TKO	4 (15), 1:18	1967-08-16	Hiram Bithorn Stadium, San Juan	Retained Lineal, The Ring, WBC & WBA world lightweight titles.
Win	49–5–1	Flash Elorde	TKO	4 (15), 1:18	1967-08-16	Madison Square Garden, New York, New York	Retained Lineal, The Ring, WBC & WBA world lightweight titles.
Win	48–5–1	Sugar Ramos	TKO	5 (15), 1:45	1966-10-22	El Toreo, Mexico City, Distrito Federal	Retained Lineal, The Ring, WBC & WBA world lightweight titles.
Win	47–5–1	Johnny Bizzarro	TKO	12 (15)	1966-06-20	Pittsburgh Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Retained Lineal, The Ring, WBC & WBA world lightweight titles.
Draw	46–5–1	Nicolino Locche	PTS	10	1966-04-07	Estadio Luna Park, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Win	46–5	Ismael Laguna	TKO	4 (15), 1:18	1965-11-13	Hiram Bithorn Stadium, San Juan	Won Lineal, The Ring, WBC & WBA world lightweight titles.
Loss	45–5	Ismael Laguna	MD	15	1965-04-10	Estadio Nacional de Panamá, Panama City	Lost Lineal, The Ring, WBC & WBA world lightweight titles.
Win	45–4	Dick Divola	TKO	1 (10), 2:07	1964-12-14	Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts
Win	44–4	Kenny Lane	UD	15	1964-04-11	Hiram Bithorn Stadium, San Juan	Retained Lineal, The Ring, WBC & WBA world lightweight titles.
Win	43–4	Flash Elorde	TKO	14 (15), 1:44	1964-02-15	Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, Manila, Metro Manila	Retained Lineal, The Ring, WBC & WBA world lightweight titles.
Win	42–4	Maurice Cullen	PTS	10	1963-10-22	Empire Pool, Wembley, London
Win	41–4	Pete Acera	TKO	7 (10)	1963-09-18	Honolulu, Hawaii
Win	40–4	Doug Vaillant	TKO	13 (15)	1963-04-07	Hiram Bithorn Stadium, San Juan	Retained Lineal, The Ring, WBA & WBC world lightweight titles.
Win	39–4	Teruo Kosaka	TKO	13 (15)	1963-04-07	Kokugikan, Tokyo	Retained Lineal, The Ring, WBA & WBC world lightweight titles.
Win	38–4	Kazuo Takayama	UD	10	1962-11-07	Korakuen Hall, Tokyo
Win	37–4	Arthur Persley	UD	10	1962-08-01	Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City, Metro Manila
Win	36–4	Joe Brown	UD	15	1962-04-21	Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada	Won World Lightweight title.
Win	35–4	Paolo Rosi	UD	10	1961-11-18	Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
Win	34–4	Doug Vaillant	UD	10	1961-09-02	Miami Beach Convention Center, Miami Beach, Florida
Loss	33–4	Duilio Loi	UD	15	1961-05-10	San Siro, Milan, Lombardia	For World Light Welterweight title.
Win	33–3	Cisco Andrade	UD	10	1961-02-02	Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California
Loss	32–3	Duilio Loi	MD	15	1960-09-01	San Siro, Milan, Lombardia	Lost World Light Welterweight title.
Win	32–2	Duilio Loi	MD	15	1960-06-15	Cow Palace, San Francisco, California	Retained World Light Welterweight title.
Win	31–2	Battling Torres	KO	10 (15), 2:56	1960-02-04	Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California	Retained World Light Welterweight title.
Win	30–2	Kenny Lane	TKO	2 (15)	1959-06-12	Madison Square Garden, New York, New York	Won vacant World Light Welterweight title.
Win	29–2	Len Matthews	TKO	6 (10), 2:21	1959-04-13	Philadelphia Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Loss	28–2	Kenny Lane	MD	10	1958-12-31	Miami Beach Convention Center, Miami Beach, Florida
Win	28–1	Dave Charnley	PTS	10	1958-10-28	Harringay Arena, Harringay, London
Win	27–1	Johnny Busso	UD	10	1958-09-19	Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
Loss	26–1	Johnny Busso	SD	10	1958-06-27	Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
Win	26–0	Joey Lopes	UD	10	1958-05-09	Legion Stadium, Hollywood, California
Win	25–0	Tommy Tibbs	UD	10	1958-02-28	Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
Win	24–0	Harry Bell	UD	10	1957-09-23	St. Nicholas Arena, New York, New York
Win	23–0	Felix Chiocca	UD	10	1957-09-23	Chicago Stadium, Chicago, Illinois
Win	22–0	Ike Vaughn	UD	10	1957-05-07	Miami Beach Convention Center, Miami Beach, Florida
Win	21–0	Lou Filippo	TKO	7 (10), 1:22	1957-04-09	Legion Stadium, Hollywood, California
NC	20–0	Lou Filippo	ND	9 (10)	1957-04-09	Legion Stadium, Hollywood, California
Win	20–0	Bobby Rogers	TKO	7 (10), 1:22	1957-04-09	Chicago Stadium, Chicago, Illinois

Legacy

He is recognized at Ponce's Parque de los Ponceños Ilustres in the area of sports.^[3]

See also

• Lineal championship
• List of lineal boxing world champions
• List of lightweight boxing champions
• List of light welterweight boxing champions
• List of WBA world champions
• List of WBC world champions
• List of undisputed boxing champions
• List of Puerto Rican boxing world champions
• List of famous Puerto Ricans

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Carlos Ortíz.

• Professional boxing record for Carlos Ortiz from BoxRec