Really good match up! I'm not the most knowledgable on Ortiz, but I have to favour him as he was the greater fighter, and so well rounded skills wise. Will be interesting to see the response.
Haven't watched Ortiz in ages so I'm calling it 50/50 for now. Yes it's a bit of a cop out but perhaps give me some time here.
I'm going to go with Chavez to break him down over the fight as he did Taylor, who was much faster, hit harder than Ortiz, who was an excellent boxer, but I can't see him beating a Prime Chavez, when he moved up to LW he was nearly unbeatable.
I wouldn't necessarily compare ortiz to taylor though; they both had very contrasting styles. Taylor was a high volume boxer while ortiz was a more methodical boxer puncher. Ortiz was similar to arguello in that he relied alot more on timing and dissecting his opponents at midrange, particularly with that jab. The question really becomes, can ortiz keep chavez at midrange often enough to land his shots and control the pace of the fight? It's really hard to say, since neither guy fought the same stylistic opponent in their respective careers. However, as excellent as ortiz was, he could not always keep lesser quality fighters from roughing him on the inside(loi, batting torres). With Chavez, your talking about one of the best at slipping the jab and cutting the ring off. I just don't think ortiz can keep up with the pace that chavez would set; especially if your talking about a 15 round fight!
It would be tough to be greater than Chavez. He was one of the greatest fighters that ever laced up gloves. Not saying Ortiz isn't greater. I am admitting I need to watch some more of his fights. I know Carlos is highly respected. Larry Merchant has always reminded us of Ortiz when discussing lightweigts.
