Luis Ortiz Fluffs His Lines as Brave Stephen Smith Falls Short in Monte Carlo

On Saturday, at the wonderfully named Salle des Etoiles in Monte Carlo, Monaco, promoter Eddie Hearn staged a boxing version of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

The card—including world-title fights involving Jamie McDonnell and Stephen Smith, plus the European debut of much-hyped heavyweight Luis Ortiz—lurched from one major talking point to another.

There was a winner who should have been a loser, a pair of losers heralded for their efforts (despite one of them barely trying to win), plus a winner who saw his reputation suffer a hit.

Perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised that a place renowned for hosting a Formula One race provided more twists and turns than a lap around Circuit de Monaco with Lewis Hamilton.

But let's begin with the good: Jason Sosa and Stephen Smith.

Although he fell short in his bid to dethrone the WBA super featherweight champion, Swifty won plenty of plaudits. It will be of little consolation to the fighter, though, as he failed in attempt No. 2 to win a world title. While the bumps and bruises will disappear, the pain of defeat tends to linger.

Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

Against IBF champion Jose Pedraza in April, a knockdown in Round 9 sealed Smith's fate. The Englishman lost 117-110 and 116-111 (twice) on the scorecards in Connecticut.

Against Sosa at the weekend, the final scores—117-110, 116-111 and 116-112—were remarkably similar to that Pedraza fight. Smith suffered another knockdown, too, albeit in Round 2.

That's where the similarities end, though.

While Pedraza outfoxed the challenger to retain his crown earlier in the year, Sosa roughed him up early and then held firm down the stretch.

Before the bout, Smith told Matchroom Boxing: "Sosa is short, strong, known as a big puncher, so I have got to force him into mistakes and use my skills to get him onto my shots. It’s a good fight and one that’s more suited to me, I prefer a style like Sosa than Pedraza."

However, instead of using Sosa's methods to work for him, Smith was forced to take a leaf out of his opponent's book.

The knockdown was unfortunate—the pair tangled feet—but there was no doubt about the power shots El Canito produced, particularly those at the end of Round 3 that opened up a nasty gash next to his rival's right eye.

Wounded and with a deficit to claw back, Smith—one of four fighting brothers, with siblings Callum, Liam and Paul all present at ringside—bravely threw caution to the wind. It was an act of desperation that nearly paid off, but such a shocking start left him with too much ground to make up.

Bloodied and beaten, Smith cut a forlorn figure in the centre of the ring as the verdict was read out. He knew what was coming—and now knows another opportunity may not come around so quickly.

"I’m in boxing to become a world champion, so I’d love another chance, but I can’t expect just to get one, I’ve got to work hard for it," he said in his post-fight press conference, per Chris McKenna of the Daily Star.

Kind words and pats on the back won't ease the sense of disappointment for Smith. He was good—but, once again, not quite good enough.

At least the absorbing battle helped viewers forget all about the penultimate matchup on the bill.

On his first outing for his new promoters, heavyweight Ortiz was involved in a forgettable fight (and the word "fight" should be used in the loosest possible sense there) with the unpredictable Malik Scott.

Their 12-round ordeal had one positive—the pair may have found a cure for insomnia.

It was bad. Very bad. Very, very bad. Very, very, very…well, you get the idea.

Like an absent postman, Ortiz failed to deliver.

King Kong hoped to roar for a new audience. Instead, he bored them to tears, failing to dispatch a fighter in Scott who at times had to be encouraged by his corner in between rounds just to get off his stool (a giant bar stool, by the way) and carry on boxing.

The two protagonists looked confused when the final bell rang, as if unsure the fight was really over. It had gone on far longer than necessary—and Tony Bellew certainly wasn't impressed by what he saw from Ortiz:

Scott lost by a landslide on points and was still happy to claim a moral victory for going the distance. Per CompuBox's stats, the Philadelphian landed 45 punches through 36 minutes—including three jabs.

He barely engaged and spent most of his time on the run yet bamboozled Ortiz. It was as if the Cuban had been given all the stickers off a Rubik's Cube but still couldn't solve the puzzle.

Whoever you blame for the non-spectacle, Ortiz now needs to produce a performance in his next outing, scheduled to be on December 10 in Manchester, England. IBF champion Anthony Joshua, who headlines next month's bill, will have seen little to concern him should King Kong stand in his way in the future.

It can only be hoped the Florida-based southpaw looks better against someone willing to throw a punch.

"These guys have got to come to win, and we will find someone on December 10 who will come to win, and then you will see the best of Luis Ortiz," Hearn told Sky Sports (h/t Richard Damerell of SkySports.com). He better hope so, or else his big recruit could forever be stuck on the periphery of the division.

While Ortiz-Scott was bad, McDonnell and Liborio Solis put on a show. The ugly part, however, came in the verdict.

Scoring is obviously subjective. We all see different things from different angles, leading to disagreements over the eventual winner. It should also be pointed out that the three judges sitting at ringside—Nelson Vazquez, Stanley Christodoulou and Robert Hoyle—are qualified to watch bouts and evaluate the action.

And yet those three men were in a minority who felt the champion from Doncaster, England, did enough to retain his crown.

Certainly very few on Twitter agreed with the unanimous verdict in McDonnell's favour:

"

116-112 Solis. McDonnell came back but didn't do enough for me

— Talking Boxing (@TalkingBoxingUK) November 12, 2016"

McDonnell is renowned as a slow starter. However, it felt like Solis—who landed early and often—moved out to such a commanding lead that only a stoppage would stop him taking the title back to his native Venezuela.

The former super flyweight world champion possessed a particularly mean right hand that countered the jab of McDonnell, who suffered damage to his nose before coming alive in the second half of the contest.

The rally felt like it had come too late, though, yet the judges denied Solis what seemed to be rightfully his. All three had McDonnell the winner—Hoyle had him up by six rounds. Six. Whole. Rounds. Wow.

Tom Gray of The Ring magazine summed up the officiating in his fight report with the line: "After handing in tallies like that, [the judges] need a new line of work."

McDonnell doesn't need to think about changing jobs, but he might want to head to a new division. A switch to super bantamweight is going to happen eventually—it's just a matter of when, not if.

It's a miracle how a man who stands at 5'10" can still get all the way down to 118 pounds, but Saturday perhaps showed it could be time for McDonnell to move up.

At least he has options. Smith can only wait and hope for another opportunity. He gave it his all only to fall short again. Ortiz, in contrast, barely gave us anything. They were the good, the bad and the ugly in Monaco.

Now please enjoy listening to one of the greatest themes in cinematic history: