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Carlos Ortiz (born September 9, 1936) is a Puerto
Rican who was a three time world boxing champion,
twice in the lightweight division and once in the
Jr. Welterweights.

Ortiz, born in Ponce, started his professional
career in 1955 with a first round knockout of
Harry Bell in New York. An immigrant to the United
States 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, nowadays a member of the International
Boxing Hall Of Fame as a referee. Filippo was also
one of the guys who participated in 1982's Rocky
III, as one of the referees. 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 handled 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 on a 10 round decision, after
which promoters thought he was ready for a world
title try.

Carlos met Kenny Lane for the vacant world Jr.
Welterweight title, in New York on the night of
June 12, 1959. Lane had handled 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, knocking out
Lane in 2 rounds.Ortiz had become 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 former world lightweight champion
Battling Torres in Torres' background of Los
Angeles, California|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 travelled to Milan once
again, and met Loi in a rubber match. This time,
he lost again, by 15 round decision.

Instead of going up in weight, like most
boxing|boxers throughout history have done after
losing the title in their original division, Ortiz
went down in weight, and challenged world champion
Joe Brown (boxing)|Joe Brown (also a member of the
International Boxing Hall Of Fame). Ortiz won a 15
round decision over Brown on April 21 of 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 April 7, 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 remach 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), Sugar
Ramos (another International Boxing Hall Of Fame
Member, ko in 5 rounds in Mexico City) and Flash
Elorde, also by ko in 14 at a New York rematch.
The Ramos fight proved controversial, because the
World Boxing Council|WBC's president proclaimed at
first that the punch with which Ortiz had beaten
Ramos with 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. 

June 29, 1968, proved to be Ortiz's last day as a
world champion, as he lost his world lightweight
title to Dominican Republic|Dominican Carlos Cruz
on a 15 round decision in the Dominican Republic.
There was going to be a rematch to be held in San
Juan, but Cruz tragically died in the Dominicana
De Aviacion DC-9 crash off the Dominican
Republic's Atlantic Ocean coast when he was flying
to meet Ortiz in a rematch, in the same plane
crash that also killed most members of the Puerto
Rican Women's National Volleyball team, as well as
the rest of the passengers on the plane (see:
Dominicana DC-9 air disaster).

Ortiz kept on fighting, but he never got another
chance at a world title. He retired after losing
at the Madison Square Garden by a knockout in 6
rounds to another future hall of famer, 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 enjoys to take photos
with his fans and sign autographs for them.

==See also==

*List of famous Puerto Ricans