It was a good fight from beginning to end with back and forth action. Lopez showed no fear and obviously came to fight. Lopez came out strong, but he was also hurt by a straight left hand followed by a right hook in round two. He regained his composure while keeping a steady pace and backing off Ortiz with his punches in return. In round five, Ortiz pulled a dirty move by bluntly hitting Lopez in the back of the head. However by round seven, Lopez was putting together strong effective combinations and egging on Ortiz to fight.
Unknown initially, a left hook to Ortiz's jaw while his mouth was open may have caused the injury early in the ninth that led to the technical knockout. Showtime's Jim Gray attempted to interview Ortiz, but he sounded like a drunken sailor doing a bad Daffy Duck impersonation and his handlers took him away. Ortiz was up on all judges' scorecards at the time of the stoppage by 86-85, 87-84, and 88-83.
Victor Ortiz was set to fight Saul "Canelo" Alvarez in September on pay per view, but that will not happen and this is another drastic setback for Ortiz. His heart has been questioned before when he quit against Marcos Maidana earlier in his career and his recent debacle in the Mayweather fight along with this will drop Ortiz's status significantly. He appears to break down mentally too often in tough fights to be an elite boxer. Ortiz did look badly hurt, but just too many of his fights have ended in a strange manner.
In the co-feature, Lucas Matthysse (31-2) defeated Humberto Soto (58-8-2) by TKO after round five. Soto did well early, but got into a firefight. Matthysse dropped Soto at the end of round five as a result of consecutive ruthless overhand rights. Soto was not able to recover and his corner called the bout while he sat on the stool.
Both Showtime fights ended with fighters on their stools, but both were very entertaining bouts.
Recap: Victor Ortiz vs. Josesito Lopez & Humberto Soto vs. Lucas Matthysse