Ortiz vs. Lawson Review: The First Robbery of 2024

In what was supposed to be a hero's comeback for highly-rated Mexican prospect Vergil Ortiz, the combat sports community has yet again been left with disappointment. There was a sigh heard around the world this past Saturday evening, as referee Tony Weeks once again made a horrendous stoppage to a fight with high stakes. This stoppage puts into perspective exactly why many people, both from Gen Z and prior generations, have refused to watch boxing. Corruption, disgraceful stoppages, politics ruining potential fights, all of it has negatively impacted the sport of boxing. Fredrick Lawson, a well-experienced opponent with many rounds under his belt, was never given the chance to fight.

In the first round, Ortiz came out with a solid offensive effort. Several of his combos were led with the jab, which is typical for a fighter feeling his opponent out in the first one to three rounds. Ortiz landed a solid jab that backed Lawson up against the ropes. Once Ortiz realized Lawson was giving him time and space to strike on his high guard against the ropes, he began to throw an array of left hooks to the body, right hooks to the body, and a few upstairs in an attempt to reach around the guard. However, all of these shots landed on the glove, on the arms, or the elbows.

With 29 seconds on the clock in the first round, referee Tony Weeks jumped in and waved off the fight as a TKO victory for Ortiz. As the fight was wrapped, the crowd voiced its disapproval. Retired Puerto Rican superstar and former world-title challenger Gabriel Rosado took a few moments to process the stoppage and spoke on the poor judgment of Tony Weeks as well. Rosado went the extra mile to confirm that all of Ortiz's punches were landed on the guard, and none of them were truly clean shots on Lawson. As Rosado explained this, the crowd began to violently shout “Tony sucks!” Ortiz paced around the ring with an uncomfortable look on his face, while Lawson's coach and corner loudly protested Week's decision. Lawson was visibly upset, standing in solidarity with his coaches while they argued against the disrespectful stoppage made by the referee.

The reaction from the crowd was so strong that Ortiz thought that he was being booed, but this was quickly dismissed when he came on the microphone and apologized for the fight being ended early. This is not the first time that Tony Weeks has made such a horrendous act of judgment. Over the summer, Tony Weeks was the referee in a WBA Super Lightweight World Championship contest between Rolly Romero and Ismael Barroso, who featured in the undercard of Ortiz's main event bout against Ohara Davies. As mentioned in last week's article, this fight was dubbed the “robbery of the year,” which only occurred because of Tony Weeks' poor refereeing. The fight occurred on May 15th, 2023, and just three days later an investigation was opened in regards to Weeks' conduct. After this investigation made headlines, many were hopeful that Romero would be stripped and Weeks would be held accountable, but nothing came from the investigation. No further information came out in regards to the investigation.

Little else was said other than the fact that Romero would be mandated to defend his title against Barroso, should he win his next contest. Aside from the argument that corruption took hold of the fight, another issue needs to be addressed. Knockout artists such as Vergil Ortiz do not get many rounds in the bank with stoppages like this. A familiar case study in relation to this can be drawn straight towards the heavyweight division. Look no further than Deontay Wilder, who was coming off of a one-round knockout victory before losing in embarrassing fashion to Joseph Parker. In his match against Swedish-born heavyweight Robert Helenius (which I attended live), Wilder only threw a total of three punches. At the time of the brutal knockout, there were only 10 seconds left on the clock. This means that Wilder only had two minutes minutes and 50 seconds worth of time in the ring, not even an entire round. Combining this with a clear lack of sparring, it was the perfect storm that left Wilder unable to effectively defend himself against Joseph Parker's onslaught.

Wilder was also unable to mount his own offensive techniques, at times simply circling the ring. The answer to all of Wilder's problems was ring rust. For Vergil Ortiz, Tony Weeks' premature stoppage could be a spell of doom. Ortiz has been out of the ring for over a year due to repetitive health crises, and he needs the rounds more than anyone else due to how quickly all of the divisions he could participate in are moving.

Welterweight has been paused due to Terrence Crawford honoring his rematch with Errol Spence, while Jarron “Boots” Ennis became the IBF Welterweight World Champion because Crawford was unjustifiably stripped of the belt. Light-middleweight has the same problem, with Tim Tszyu being elevated to full WBO Light-Middleweight World Champion because of Jermell Crawford's quest for greatness against Canelo Alvarez. Middleweight is anyone's game, with Janibek Alimkhanuly holding on to the IBF and WBO World Middleweight Championships.

Jermall Charlo hasn't been stripped of the WBC's version of the title, so Carlos Adames will have to wait a bit longer until he is free of his status as WBC Interim World Champion. If Ortiz wants to make a serious run at a world title, he cannot be set back by refs such as Tony Weeks who deny him the opportunity to work for an extended period of time. In the era of greats such as Roberto Duran, fights went round to round, with referees giving the opposition a chance to prove themselves. Fredrick Lawson wasn't given this chance, and both men have suffered because of it. Hopefully, Tony Weeks is investigated for his conduct yet again, Lawson is compensated fairly, and Ortiz can remain consistent in the ring. Boxing functions on the energy of prospects and veterans alike, and violating their time in the ring is a massive disservice to the community. Despite another victory being added to his record (now 20-0, 20 KOs) there is no doubt that Ortiz and the fans were robbed.

At Super-Lightweight, there have fortunately been some changes made. In the WBA Final Eliminator that took place in the co-main event, Ismael Barroso was able to redeem himself by defeating Ohara Davies via a shocking first-round knockout. It was an impressive win that was unfortunately sullied by the disgusting result of the main event. In the lead-up to their confrontation, Davies was confident that Barroso was only able to hurt Rolly because of a skill issue. Davies made the case that he would be able to counterpunch against Barroso, a technique many experienced coaches call “punching between the punches.”

Sadly, Davies was not able to employ this tactic. He was dismantled with a left hook that sounded like a nuclear bomb on the broadcast, dropping him not just once, but two times. After Davies regained his composure, he tried to make a case to the referee that he was able to continue. The referee did not allow Davies to continue, stopping the fight in the very first round.

Barroso moves on to once again become Rolly Romero's mandatory, but there may be some major roadblocks to the two men meeting in the ring for a long-overdue rematch. Ryan Garcia has abandoned his goal of facing WBC Super-Lightweight Champion Devin Haney in April of this year, which some believe to be caused by Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s recent endorsement of the Mexican-American. Instead, Garcia looks to challenge Rolly for his WBA Super-Lightweight Championship. This means that Barroso will either have to state his case to the WBA or accept step-aside money in the event that Rolly and Garcia can agree to terms and sign for a blockbuster matchup. It has been made clear through social media that Rolly wants the Garcia fight over Barroso or even Davies, and the combat sports community has its fingers crossed that the two men are able to fight.