Lopez ruins Ortiz's plans

Rafael's remarks: Ortiz, a former welterweight titlist, had been through a frustrating time. After being relieved of his title via fourth-round knockout by Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September in somewhat controversial fashion (because Ortiz, after purposely head-butting Mayweather, was not looking and had his hands down when the fight resumed), Ortiz was hoping to put the loss behind him by hooking up with Andre Berto in a February rematch. Ortiz outpointed Berto 14 months ago in a fantastic slugfest to take his belt. However, Berto tore his biceps, and the fight was postponed until Saturday. However, a month before the bout, Berto flunked a random urine test, coming up dirty for a steroid, and was bounced from the fight. That allowed Lopez, a fringe junior welterweight contender, to move up in weight and step in to save the Showtime card on relatively short notice.

Expectations were that Ortiz, 25, of Ventura, Calif., would take care of big underdog Lopez, 27, of Riverside, Calif., and move on to a fight Golden Boy had already announced -- a Sept. 15 Showtime pay-per-view headliner at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas against junior middleweight titlist Saul "Canelo" Alvarez. But, with Alvarez watching at ringside, the best-laid plans were destroyed by tenacious Lopez and one of his terrific left hooks.

From the outset, this was an excellent fight, a borderline fight of the year candidate that served up mounds of thrilling two-way action. In the fifth round, it looked as if the fight might be short-circuited when Ortiz committed a flagrant foul by whacking a wide-open Lopez behind the head with a right hand. Referee Jack Reiss called timeout, giving Ortiz a warning and Lopez time to recover. Reiss should have deducted a point from Ortiz for the dangerous and uncalled-for blow -- the second fight in a row in which he has committed a purposeful foul.

Lopez, however, has no dog in him. He sucked it up and continued as the crowd of 7,865 at the Staples Center roared throughout the fight. There was particularly great action in the second and seventh rounds with both men having big moments. As we would later learn, Ortiz was ahead on all three scorecards, 88-83, 87-84 and 86-85, going into the ninth round. The lead could not hold up, however, because -- moments before the end of the round -- Lopez, whose left eye was swelling, apparently broke Ortiz's jaw with a left hook (although the injury might have happened earlier in the fight, according to Ortiz).

While Ortiz's trainer, Danny Garcia, implored him to continue, Ortiz told Reiss his jaw was broken and quit, giving Lopez a stunningly unexpected victory and crushing the plans for a Sept. 15 Alvarez-Ortiz showdown on Mexican Independence Day. Ortiz was legitimately injured. He was spitting blood, was hospitalized and was due to have surgery Sunday to repair the damage, which almost certainly will keep him out of the ring for the rest of the year. Some, however, were unduly harsh on Ortiz for quitting because it was the second time he had resigned in a fight. He also quit in the sixth round of a fight in the same Staples Center ring after suffering a knockdown against Marcos Maidana in a 2009 interim junior welterweight title bout.

Ortiz had shown a big heart to survive two knockdowns against Berto to restore some of his reputation, but it remains to be seen whether it will recover after this loss, which comes on the heels of his dirty actions in the fight with Mayweather. Whatever happens, Ortiz is a compelling fighter because his fights are always exciting and you just never know what is going to happen.

For Lopez, this was, as he called it, his "Rocky moment." It was his career-defining moment, and he put himself in the picture for any kind of notable fight at welterweight or junior welterweight, to which he might return. He said he felt disrespected by Ortiz and Golden Boy because they planned the Alvarez-Ortiz fight before Ortiz had faced him. He said he would ruin their plans, and he forcefully went out and did just that. It's hard not to be happy for the guy, who has worked for everything he has achieved.

Rafael's remarks: Is Matthysse a badass or what? Soto, 32, a pro since age 17, had never been knocked down in a career filled with tough fights -- until meeting the powerful punches from Matthysse, 29, a brawler from Argentina and one of boxing's heaviest hitters pound for pound. On paper, anyone who follows boxing knew this was supposed to be an action fight. Both fighters had promised during the promotion to go to war. That is just what happened, but it was Matthysse who was able to stand up to the punches better than Soto, who was denied his milestone 60th professional victory.

They were winging shots from the outset, and Matthysse looked as though he had scored a knockdown on a right hand at the end of the second round, but referee Raul Caiz Sr. ruled it a slip. There was tremendous two-way action for most of the fight, especially in the second round. They were both connecting with shots, but Matthysse, whose right eye was swelling in the fifth round, looked a bit stronger and displayed a strong chin. Just before the end of the fifth round, Matthysse landed a nice overhand right that staggered Soto. Matthysse quickly followed with a left hand, another clean right hand that sent Soto crashing into the ropes and a third right hand that crumpled Soto to the canvas. Soto was clearly in bad shape and had to use the ropes to lean on to climb to his feet. He continued to hold on to the ropes for balance, but, because the round had ended, Caiz allowed him to return to his corner to see whether a one-minute break would help him regain his bearings. However, in the corner, Soto was not responsive to his corner, which did the right thing and called off the fight.

It was a terrific victory for Matthysse. He has been one of the top 140-pound contenders for a few years, but this was his best victory. He had earned a lot of respect and credit in his two defeats, split decisions in the hometowns of Devon Alexander and Zab Judah (both of whom he knocked down). This time, Matthysse didn't leave it in the judges' hands. Soto, a former lightweight and junior lightweight titlist from Mexico, saw his 15-fight winning streak since 2008 come to an end.

Rafael's remarks: The best part of Showtime's televising additional preliminary bouts on its Showtime Extreme channel is that we get to see fights such as this one -- a legitimate and interesting match between two young prospects in which both fighters can get much-needed exposure. Charlo came out the big winner because, besides notching the victory, he did it in tremendously impressive fashion. The 22-year-old from Houston, who turned pro at 17, seems to be coming into his own with this second consecutive big knockout victory. In March, he drilled Chris Chatman, his most notable opponent to that point, in the third round on the Danny Garcia-Erik Morales undercard in Houston. Now Charlo has taken care of Douglin, 24, of Marlboro, N.J., who had won two bouts in a row since an unexpected defeat 16 months ago. Charlo appeared to be ahead in a competitive fight through the first four rounds, but he ended it suddenly and decisively in the fifth round. Charlo landed a flush right hand to the head, dropping Douglin -- who has the interesting nickname of "Momma's Boy" because his mother, Saphya, is his trainer -- to his back. He struggled to get to his feet, but had no balance and fell again as referee Wayne Hedgepth called it off at 1 minute, 12 seconds.

Rafael's remarks: Yes, Figueroa has a lot of work to do on defense, but the 22-year-old from Weslaco, Texas, is one of the most exciting prospects in boxing. All he wants to do is brawl and take the other guy's head off. He was in soft against Hernandez, 33, of Mexico -- who was knocked out for the fourth consecutive fight. Figueroa was way too big, fast and strong for his opponent. Hernandez got in a couple of solid shots, but Figueroa walked through them. He tattooed Hernandez almost at will. Hernandez sagged into the ropes after eating about a half dozen power shots in a row, and referee Jose Cobian thankfully stopped the fight at 1 minute, 34 seconds. A fight such as this was expected to easy work for Figueroa, and it was just that. The key for him is how he will perform when he starts regularly facing opponents who can fight back.

Rafael's remarks: In January, Ramos, 25, of Watts in Los Angeles, lost his world title to Guillermo Rigondeaux in a woeful performance. Rigondeaux knocked him down twice en route to an uncompetitive sixth-round knockout in which he made Ramos look like a rank amateur and ended his sixth-month title reign. Ramos was making his return to the ring for the first time since that harrowing defeat in the main event of Telefutura's "Solo Boxeo" and the first card of promoter Dan Goossen's new "Live at the Lodge" series of fights at the Sportsmen's Lodge in Studio City, Calif. Ramos and Esquivias, 28, of Carson, Calif., had squared off three times as amateurs (with Ramos reportedly winning twice), so they were familiar with each other. In the pro fight, they put on a spirited and competitive battle that the crowd was into. They dug into each other with body shots in a nip-and-tuck fight, although Ramos appeared to land more overall blows. Esquivias had more of his success in the first half of the fight before Ramos got going later on.

Rafael's remarks: Molina is back in business. After a layoff one day short of one year, Molina, 29, of Covina, Calif., finally returned to action. He had been idle during a dispute with promoter Dan Goossen that was headed to arbitration with the California State Athletic Commission until they worked out their differences and agreed to continue working together. The first step for Molina was to shake off the rust against Munguia to get ready for the real fight -- a Sept. 8 challenge of lightweight titlist Antonio DeMarco on HBO in the Andre Ward-Chad Dawson super middleweight championship co-feature. Molina got in some much-needed rounds as he worked over Munguia, dropping him three times, including twice with body shots, en route to the lopsided win. "I got the rust off. It was exactly what I needed to get ready for DeMarco," Molina said. "I hope they were watching because I'm hungry and I'm coming for him." Munguia, 29, of Mexico, saw his modest three-fight winning streak snapped.

Rafael's remarks: Promoter Don King put on a small card at the Hard Rock resort that, with zero publicity, wound up being televised by the obscure Pursuit Channel, and Grano scored a career-best victory in the main event. Grano, 31, of Hartford, Conn., admitted that Williamson, a devastating puncher, had hurt him in the second round with his best punch, a right hand. At that point, Grano said, he began to move to his right to stay away from the shot. It worked. Grano hurt Williamson, 43, of Denver, and had him in trouble in the third round, then knocked him out with his own right hand on the button at 2 minutes, 27 seconds of the fourth round. Williamson landed with a thud and was out cold. Forgive Grano's exuberance of asking for a shot at champion Vitali Klitschko after the fight, but he was excited after his third win in a row. Williamson, who once knocked down Wladimir Klitschko in a nontitle fight in 2004 and lost a decision in a 2005 title bout to Chris Byrd, was fighting for the first time in 14 months and is 1-2 in his past three, having also been knocked out in the fourth round by Ray Austin.

Rafael's remarks: The original "Friday Night Fights" main event was supposed to feature a junior welterweight fight between former titlist Kendall Holt and Josesito Lopez. But Holt withdrew -- he didn't want to fight outdoors at the Soboba Casino in such heat -- and Lopez, who was left hanging, then jumped at an offer to fight Victor Ortiz for far more money on Showtime the next night. So Dallas, 25, of Bakersfield, Calif., who has been a "Friday Night Fights" regular in his recent bouts, and Castro, 26, a native of Mexico living in El Paso, Texas, filled in for what figured to be a solid fight.

Dallas, however, dominated and looked pretty darn good doing it. He has looked good since hooking up with 2011 trainer of the year Virgil Hunter three fights ago. Dallas opened a cut over Castro's right eye in the second round and was in complete control, although an accidental head clash opened a cut over Dallas' eye in the third round. Dallas had a much better skill level, was quicker and beat Castro to the punch throughout the fight. In the sixth round, Dallas was on the attack and hurt Castro with a pair of clean right hands that sent him into the ropes. Although Castro withstood many more blows as Dallas battered him around the ring -- including intelligently mixing in some body punches -- for the next few seconds, the two right hands essentially ended the fight. With Dallas teeing off and Castro basically out on his feet, referee Lou Moret stepped in at 2 minutes, 6 seconds. This was one of Dallas' most impressive performances because he showed a complete arsenal on offense and defense. He was up 50-45 on all three scorecards at the time of the stoppage.

Rafael's remarks: Gonzales, 28, of Sacramento, Calif., began to get some attention as a prospect last year when 2011 trainer of the year Virgil Hunter -- who trains super middleweight champ Andre Ward -- took Gonzales on. Gonzales also gained notoriety because he was the fighter who opened a cut over Ward's eye in a September sparring session that forced the final of last year's Ward-Carl Froch Super Six World Boxing Classic to be postponed from October to December. Gonzales was due to fight on Showtime's "ShoBox: The New Generation" series in January, but he suffered a slight tear in his right hamstring, forcing him out of the bout and into a long layoff. Making his return to the ring for the first time since a debatable split decision victory against veteran Ossie Duran in October, Gonzales was matched with Augustama, 26, who is from Haiti but is based in Miami. It was a fight that looked like a mismatch on paper and turned out exactly that way, with Gonzales rolling to a shutout decision in a decent fight. Augustama did open a cut over Gonzales' left eye -- a cut that has given him previous problems -- early in the fight. Augustama has lost five of his past six fights.

Rafael's remarks: For the first time in any weight class, two Japanese titleholders met to unify belts. That is remarkable when you think about all the alphabet titleholders Japan has produced in recent decades. So, this was a high-stakes affair, even if it was in boxing's smallest weight class (105 pounds) and did not muster widespread attention in other parts of the world. Ioka, 23, was making his third defense after winning a belt in just his seventh pro fight. Yaegashi, 29, was making his first defense after knocking out Pornsawan Porpramook in the 10th round in October in the savagely violent 2011 ESPN.com fight of the year. Although Ioka will vacate one of the belts in the coming weeks, the showdown with Yaegashi delivered a close, competitive, action-packed fight. Ioka swelled Yaegashi's left eye in the first round, and it got worse as the fight progressed. Because the bout was contested using the WBC's terrible open scoring system, it was announced that the fight was 38-38 on all three judges' scorecards after the fourth round. Yaegashi's eye was getting worse -- it looked similar to the horrible swelling Pawel Wolak suffered in his first fight against Delvin Rodriguez last summer -- to the point that referee Yuji Fukuchi called timeout to have the ringside doctor take a look at it in the sixth round. Despite the injury, Yaegashi was in the fight, even though his right eye didn't look so good by the end, either. After the eighth round, the scores were announced again, with Ioka, who played the role of counter puncher, ahead 77-75 on two cards and more aggressive Yaegashi up 77-76 on the third. It was that kind of competitive fight. Ioka made hay in the late going, however, to gain enough of an edge to eke out the tight decision in an excellent fight that really could have gone either way or been a draw.