Ortiz vs Martin: Review

Luis Ortiz was down twice but able to get back up on both instances and knockout Charles Martin in Round 6. Ortiz was down once in Round 1 and then again in Round 4. 

Ortiz (33-2-0, 28 KOs) has been inactive for more than one year. His last fight was in November 2020. He looked a tad slower in this fight against a much younger Martin. Ortiz was 42 years old coming into this fight. The first knockdown was a right hand from Martin as Ortiz tries to get in. Martin caught him and landed on the side of the head of Ortiz. The second knockdown was more of a stiff jab as both men came forward. I was surprised to see Ortiz go down from that punch. It is rare to see someone goes down from a jab.

With two knockdowns early in the fight, Martin's (28-3-1, 25 KOs) confidence was high. He continued to push Ortiz backwards, and he stood his ground. After he scored a knockdown in Round 4, Martin raised his hand not in celebration though, but It seemed to me that he was very confident that it is his night. Martin was confident but still very focused on the fight. He did not show any signs of overconfidence, his eyes were laser focus on the job. He can not afford to blink with two eyes as he knows very well that Ortiz still packed tremendous power on both hands. 

Obviously behind the scorecards, Ortiz's corner advised him to throw more jabs and don't go for the home-run. His corner wanted Ortiz to focus more on his jab maybe to take time to recover from those two knockdowns. Ortiz knees buckled on those knockdown. It looked like age is catching him. He can take the punch but his legs betrayed him. He was not hurt on both knockdowns. He got up with a smile on his face on both instance. 

At ring side, Ortiz's family was emotional at what they were watching so far. His daughter was in tears watching his father went a trip to the canvas twice already. All these, turned around later on.

In Round 6, Ortiz caught Martin with a left hand to the head that stuns and buckles Martin's legs. Martin was in a very dangerous situation as he looked disoriented. His guard were down and his still on his feet. Ortiz sensing the opportunity jumped right on and swarmed Martin with shots after shots. Martin's left hand surprisingly got entangled between the top rope and next rope below as he went down. The referee helped him to untangled his hand. 

The precious seconds bought to remove his hand was not enough to recover from the barrage of punches Ortiz unleashed. The referee let the fight continue. Ortiz obviously smelled blood, blitzed Martin and Martin went down for the second time. The referee took the count. Martin was able to get back up but obviously on shaky legs. The referee had seen enough and waved the fight. The time of the stoppage 1:37 remaining in Round 6.

Martin protested the stoppage but for me it was the right call to save Martin from unnecessary damage.

DOWN GOES MARTIN! 🤯

Order #OrtizMartin NOW: https://t.co/3Zu1Q7c92G pic.twitter.com/yTduib9F9u

— FOX Sports: PBC (@PBConFOX) January 2, 2022