Team Victor Ortiz Eye The Alexander vs. Maidana Winner
by Chris Robinson
Danny Garcia was in a pretty somber mood on Tuesday morning.
The night before, the Ventura, Calif.-based trainer received the unfortunate news that his fighter Victor Ortiz’s February 11th rematch with Andre Berto was cancelled because of a left arm injury to the Haitian-American star. Berto apparently ruptured his left bicep while in sparring on Monday afternoon, the same injury he suffered during his stoppage victory over Carlos Quintana in April of 2010.
Speaking on the sudden turn of events, Garcia expressed extreme disappointment while still trying to remain positive about the future.
“I just heard that last night,” stated Garcia. “We really wanted to fight [Berto] because it was going to be a good fight. We wanted the fight but there’s nothing that we can do now. Now we’ll have to look for somebody else, because Andre Berto, I think it’s going to take him a few months to heal up. We’re going to have to fight somebody else.”
Garcia added that he would prefer to have Ortiz take a few months off before eyeing a return sometime around May. And while he added that it was too soon to begin thinking about a next logical opponent for Oritz, he instantly changed his tune when asked about the February 25th showdown between former junior welterweight titlists Marcos Maidana and Devon Alexander.
“Of course we’re going to watch that fight. We’re waiting to see if we can get the winner,” added Garcia. “Even if Amir Khan wants to come back and wants to come up to 147. You never know, Mayweather doesn’t have a fight right now because him and Pacquiao, they’re still deciding. Why not fight Mayweather in May?”
Of all the names Garcia mentioned, the Maidana-Alexander winner figures to make the most sense.
Maidana handed Ortiz his second professional defeat in June of 2009 as he survived three knockdowns on his way to scoring a 6th round TKO victory. Alexander would certainly welcome a clash with Ortiz, as he is still looking to restore the luster from a lackluster 2010 campaign that saw him drop a technical-nod to Timothy Bradley in January and then get dropped by hard-punching Argentinean Lucas Matthysse in June before pulling out a split-decision nod.
Mayweather is penciled in for a May 5th return at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas but already beat Ortiz last September and Khan looks to be either pushing for a rematch with Lamont Peterson, who upset him in December, or possibly eyeing a fight with former champion Shane Mosley.
