Maidana, however, never stopped throwing punches and continued to land thunderous right hands. Ortiz was cut badly over the right eye in round five and was dropped early in round six. Ortiz got to his feet and seemed ready to quit but was saved from having to do so by referee Raul Caiz Sr., who summoned the ring doctor and actually said to the ring doctor, whose job it is to evaluate the fighter's ability to continue, "It's too bad. Let's stop it." The ring doctor basically shrugged in agreement, thereby allowing the stoppage to be explained to the crowd as "under the advice of ringside physicians" rather than as Ortiz "electing not to continue". The time of the stoppage was 0:46 of round six.
Punch Stats: Total Punches: Ortiz - 74 of 177 (42%); Maidana - 66 of 293 (23%).
Ortiz has a crowd-pleasing style and clearly has the tools to be a star but some of his post-fight comments suggest he may not have the requisite toughness: "I was hurt. I'm not going to go out on my back. I'm not going to lay down for nobody. I'm going to stop while I'm ahead, and that way I can speak well when I'm older ... We'll see what happens from here on out. I'm young but I don't think I deserve to be getting beat up like this. I have a lot of thinking to do". Totally reasonable and rational decision ... but not the warrior mindset one associates with boxing's greatest champions.
At the post-fight press conference, De La Hoya was in full damage-control mode, stating that “Victor was ready to continue". Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer added that Ortiz was "half blind" due to the cut. To anyone who watched the fight, the evidence suggested otherwise ... but only time will tell what the future holds for the beaten but still-promising Ortiz.
