Carlos Ortiz (boxer)

Carlos Ortiz (9 September 1936 – 13 June 2022) was a Puerto Rican professional boxer. He held world titles in lightweight and light welterweight weight divisions. Along with Félix Trinidad, Miguel Cotto, Wilfredo Gómez, Héctor Camacho, José Torres, Edwin Rosario and Wilfred Benítez, Ortiz is considered among the best Puerto Rican boxers of all time by sports journalists and analysts. As of January 2018, Ortiz holds the record for the most wins in unified lightweight title bouts in boxing history at 10.

In 1991, Ortiz was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. In 2002, Ortiz was voted by The Ring magazine as the 60th greatest fighter of the last 80 years. He held 21st place in BoxRec ranking of the greatest pound for pound boxers of all time.Boxrec all time p4p rankings

Boxing career

Ortiz, born in Ponce, started his professional career in 1955 with a first round knockout of Harry Bell in New York City. He moved from Puerto Rico to New York before he began boxing as a professional, he would campaign there during the first stages of his career. After 9 bouts there, he fought outside New York for the first time, moving to Massachusetts to knock Al Duarte out in 4 rounds. His next 3 bouts were also outside New York, but he stayed within the confines of New England, as they happened, once again in Massachusetts, and in New Jersey.

He returned to New York again and won 4 more bouts in a row, then made his California debut, beating Mickey Northrup by a decision in 10 rounds. 2 more fights in California and one in New York went by, after which he returned to California to meet Lou Filippo, who was subsequently inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame as a referee. The first time, it was declared a no-contest after 9 rounds, but in the second, Carlos prevailed, by a knockout in 9. 5 more wins followed, and then he met Johnny Busso, who handed Carlos his first loss, on a 10-round decision. That fight was held in New York, and in an immediate rematch between Ortiz and Busso, Carlos won, also by a 10-round decision, and also in New York.

Next Carlos flew to England to meet Dave Charnley, who was considered one of the top challengers of that time. Ortiz won the fight at Harringay Arena on a 10-round decision, after which promoters thought he was ready for a world title try.

Junior welterweight world champion Carlos met Kenny Lane for the vacant world Jr. Welterweight title, in New York on the night of 12 June 1959. Lane had handed Carlos his second loss months before, winning a 10-round decision over Ortiz in Florida. This time, Carlos became the World's Jr Welterweight champion, with a TKO of Lane at the end of 2nd round. Ortiz became the first Puerto Rican world boxing champion since Sixto Escobar more than 30 years before, and only the second Puerto Rican world boxing champion ever. Unfortunately for him, not much importance was being given to that division at the time, since that division's title had been vacant for 13 years. But Carlos defended his title twice, knocking out the respected, until then undefeated Mexican puncher Battling Torres in Torres' home ground of Los Angeles, and beating Duilio Loi in 15 rounds by decision at San Francisco.

His next fight was a rematch with Loi, and it took Ortiz to Milan, Italy to defend his crown. This time, it was Loi's turn to become a world champion, winning by a 15-round decision.

After another win, Ortiz traveled to Milan once again, and met Loi in a rubber match. This time, he lost again, by 15-round decision.

Lightweight world champion Instead of going up in weight, like most boxers throughout history have done after losing the title in their original division, Ortiz went down in weight, and challenged world champion Joe Brown (also a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame). Ortiz won a 15-round decision over Brown on 21 April 1962 in Las Vegas, to win his second world title, this time in his second championship division. Ortiz defended with a 5-round knockout of Teruo Kosaka in Tokyo before making his Puerto Rican debut, with a 13-round knockout win over Doug Valiant to retain his title on 7 April 1963 in San Juan.

A knockout win in 14 rounds over another Hall of Famer, Gabriel Elorde, Flash in the Philippines followed, and then a rematch with Lane, this time Ortiz retaining his world Lightweight title with a 15-round decision in San Juan. But in 1965 he went to Panama and fought yet another member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, Ismael Laguna who defeated him in 15 rounds to claim Ortiz's world Lightweight title. A rematch in San Juan followed, and Ortiz regained the world Lightweight title beating Laguna by a 15-round decision also.

1966 saw Ortiz draw with world Jr Welterweight champion Nicolino Locche in a ten-round non-title affair in Argentina, and retain his title vs Johnny Bizarro (KO in 12 in Pittsburgh), Cuban Sugar Ramos (another International Boxing Hall of Fame Member, KO in 5 rounds in Mexico City), and Filipino Flash Elorde, also by KO in 14 at a New York rematch. The Ramos fight proved controversial, because the WBC's president proclaimed at first that the punch with which Ortiz had beaten Ramos had been illegal, but he later reconsidered and gave Ortiz the title, and the knockout victory, back, with the condition that a rematch be fought in the future.

And so 1967 came, and Ortiz and Ramos met once again, this time in San Juan. Ortiz retained the title by a knockout in 4 rounds, and this time the bout went without any controversies. Then, he and Laguna fought a third time, and Ortiz retained his title by a 15-round decision in New York.

Later career 29 June 1968 proved to be Ortiz's last day as a world champion, as he lost his world lightweight title to Dominican Carlos Cruz on a 15-round decision in the Dominican Republic. Ortiz kept on fighting, but he never got another chance at a world title. He retired after losing at Madison Square Garden by a knockout in 6 rounds to Ken Buchanan. It was the only time he was stopped in his career. His final record was of 61 wins, 7 losses and 1 draw, with one bout declared a no-contest and 30 knockout wins.

Ortiz is also a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame and he always enjoyed taking photos with his fans and signing autographs for them.

Death Carlos Ortiz died on 13 June 2022, in New York at age 85.

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRoundDateLocationNotes70Loss Ken BuchananRTD6 (10)20 Sep 197269Win61–6–1 Johnny CopelandKO3 (10)1 Aug 197268Win60–6–1 Gerardo FerratTKO3 (10)3 Jun 197267Win59–6–1 Greg PotterUD101 May 197266Win58–6–1 Junior VarneyTKO7 (10)20 Mar 197265Win57–6–1 Leo DiFioreKO2 (10)19 Feb 197264Win56–6–1 Ivelaw EastmanTKO2 (10)31 Jan 197263Win55–6–1 Terry RondeauTKO4 (10)20 Jan 197262Win54–6–1 Bill WhittenburgKO7 (10)8 Jan 197261Win53–6–1 Jimmy LigonsTKO3 (10)1 Dec 197160Win52–6–1 Edmundo LeiteMD1021 Nov 196959Loss51–6–1 Carlos Teo CruzSD1529 Jun 196858Win51–5–1 Ismael LagunaUD1516 Aug 196757Win50–5–1 Sugar RamosTKO4 (15)1 Jul 196756Win49–5–1 Flash ElordeTKO14 (15)28 Nov 196655Win48–5–1 Sugar RamosTKO5 (15)22 Oct 196654Win47–5–1 Johnny BizzarroTKO12 (15)20 Jun 196653Draw46–5–1 Nicolino LoccheMD107 Apr 196652Win46–5 Ismael LagunaUD1513 Nov 196551Loss45–5 Ismael LagunaMD1510 Apr 196550Win45–4 Dick DivolaTKO1 (10)14 Dec 196449Win44–4 Kenny LaneUD1511 Apr 196448Win43–4 Flash ElordeTKO14 (15)15 Feb 196447Win42–4 Maurice CullenPTS1022 Oct 196346Win41–4 Pete AceraTKO7 (10)18 Sep 196345Win40–4 Doug VaillantTKO13 (15)7 Apr 196344Win39–4 Teruo KosakaKO5 (15)3 Dec 196243Win38–4 Kazuo TakayamaUD107 Nov 196242Win37–4 Arthur PersleyUD101 Aug 196241Win36–4 Joe BrownUD1521 Apr 196240Win35–4 Paolo RosiUD1018 Nov 196139Win34–4 Doug VaillantUD102 Sep 196138Loss33–4 Duilio LoiUD1510 May 196137Win33–3 Cisco AndradeUD102 Feb 196136Loss32–3 Duilio LoiMD151 Sep 196035Win32–2 Duilio LoiSD1515 Jun 196034Win31–2 Battling TorresKO10 (15)4 Feb 196033Win30–2 Kenny LaneTKO2 (15)12 Jun 195932Win29–2 Len MatthewsTKO6 (10)13 Apr 195931Loss28–2 Kenny LaneMD1031 Dec 195830Win28–1 Dave CharnleyPTS1028 Oct 195829Win27–1 Johnny BussoUD1019 Sep 195828Loss26–1 Johnny BussoSD1027 Jun 195827Win26–0 Joey LopesUD109 May 195826Win25–0 Tommy TibbsUD1028 Feb 195825Win24–0 Harry BellUD1023 Sep 195724Win23–0 Felix ChioccaUD1029 May 195723Win22–0 Ike VaughnUD107 May 195722Win21–0 Lou FilippoTKO7 (10)9 Apr 195721NC20–0 Lou FilippoND9 (10)2 Mar 195720Win20–0 Bobby RogersUD1023 Jan 195719Win19–0 Gale KerwinUD1031 Dec 195618Win18–0 Philip KimTKO9 (10)15 Dec 195617Win17–0 Mickey NorthrupUD1027 Oct 195616Win16–0 Tommy SalemSD1030 Jul 195615Win15–0 Tommy SalemPTS625 May 195614Win14–0 Ray PortillaPTS817 Feb 1956 13Win13–0 Ray PortillaUD89 Jan 195612Win12–0 Charley TitoneTKO2 (8)10 Dec 195511Win11–0 Lem MillerPTS812 Nov 195510Win10–0 Al DuarteTKO4 (6)29 Oct 19559Win9–0 Leroy GrahamKO2 (6)3 Oct 19558Win8–0 Hector RodriguezKO2 (6)19 Sep 19557Win7–0 Armand BushPTS622 Aug 19556Win6–0 Tony DeColaPTS610 Aug 19555Win5–0 Jimmy DeMuraPTS624 Jun 19554Win4–0 Juan PachecoKO2 (4)30 May 19553Win3–0 Danny RobertsKO3 (4)13 May 19552Win2–0 Morris HodnettTKO1 (4)28 Feb 19551Win1–0 Harry BellKO1 (4)14 Feb 1955

Titles in boxing Major world titles NYSAC lightweight champion (135 lbs) NBA (WBA) lightweight champion (135 lbs) (2×) WBC lightweight champion (135 lbs) (3×) NYSAC light welterweight champion (140 lbs) NBA (WBA) light welterweight champion (140 lbs)

The Ring magazine titles The Ring lightweight champion (135 lbs) (2×)

Undisputed titles Undisputed lightweight champion (3×) Undisputed light welterweight champion

Legacy He is recognized at Ponce's Parque de los Ponceños Ilustres in the area of sports.

Carlos Ortiz (boxer)

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