Argentina’s Marcos Maidana claimed the interim WBA World light welterweight title with a sixth-round stoppage of American Victor Ortiz on Saturday.
Maidana, making his first US pro appearance after campaigning in Argentina and Germany, used a punishing right hand to upset one of boxing’s top prospects.
Maidana was knocked down three times in the opening two rounds, yet he also flattened Ortiz in the first round and steadily landed punches until Ortiz finally was forced to stop, his face badly cut and swollen.
PHOTO: AFP
“I went down, but I got up because I have a big heart,” Maidana said. “I saw that Victor felt my punches and I said, ‘I know I can win this.’”
It was Maidana’s second attempt at the title, having been on the wrong end of a split decision against Ukrainian Andriy Kotelnik in February.
Ortiz was the most promising youngster in Golden Boy Promotions’ stable of up-and-coming fighters, but the Kansas native couldn’t maintain his aggressive early pace and took far too many big shots.
After he was rendered unsteady and bloody from the final knockdown, the ringside doctor stopped the fight.
Ortiz had knocked out his previous eight opponents, but the talkative fighter was left practically speechless by Maidana’s power and resilience. He finished with a large cut near his right eye and a badly damaged left eye.
“I don’t know what happened,” he said. “I wasn’t in the zone tonight. He packs some power behind those punches. I usually keep composed and tonight I wasn’t ... I made some mistakes. I wanted to take my time and finish him, but I was hurt.”
Ortiz connected on 42 percent of his 177 punches. Maidana was much busier with 293 punches, connecting with 23 percent.
Ortiz couldn’t live up to the expectations of an enthusiastic crowd supporting him in his first main-event bout at Staples Center, near his adopted Southern California home.
Both fighters moved forward furiously from the opening bell and Ortiz knocked down Maidana for the first time on a big right hand with about 1:15 left. With the crowd standing and cheering for Ortiz, Maidana improbably landed a straight right hand that put Ortiz flat on his back.
The crowd was stunned, but Ortiz popped back up and both fighters made it to the bell. The second round was just as competitive, with the boxers trading shots until Ortiz knocked down Maidana with a right hook with about 30 seconds left — and then did it again with a shorter version of the same punch right before the bell.
But Maidana landed several big shots in the next three rounds, rocking Ortiz with two powerful right hands in the final seconds of the fifth. Ortiz also developed a big cut, which gaped open when the fight ended 46 seconds into the sixth.
“I came to look to finish him and that’s what happened,” Maidana said. “He hits very hard, but he doesn’t have a good chin. Definitely he didn’t adjust to my rhythm.”
Chris John, the Indonesian featherweight champion who backed out of his co-main event rematch with Rocky Juarez this week because of an illness, appeared in the ring before the final bout. He waved to several hundred flag-waving Indonesian fans who bought tickets thinking they would see John’s second fight in the US.
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
FOCUS: ‘We came out here with a goal in mind ... to keep our foot on their throat and on their neck, and continue to play 48 minutes of basketball,’ Donovan Mitchell said The Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday thrashed the Miami Heat to cruise into the next round of the NBA playoffs as the Golden State Warriors battled past the Houston Rockets 109-106 to move to the brink of a series victory. After pounding Miami 124-87 in game three on Saturday, No.1 Eastern Conference seeds Cleveland once again piled on the misery for their outclassed opponents with a crushing 138-83 victory to complete a 4-0 series win. The 55-point drubbing was the largest series-clinching victory in NBA playoff history and sets up a series against either the Indiana Pacers or Milwaukee Bucks in
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa yesterday set a women’s only world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds as she won the London Marathon, while Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe put a star-studded men’s field to the sword. For 28-year-old Assefa it was ample compensation for finishing runner-up in London and the Paris Olympics last year — especially as bitter Dutch rival, the Ethiopia-born Sifan Hassan, finished third. Assefa dropped Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei as the race, played out in blazing sunshine and with thousands lining the route, entered its business end. She came home almost three minutes clear of the Kenyan. Hassan, who beat her in
RSS