Teo Cruz vs Carlos Ortiz

[Norman]

I wonder if some history experts on here may be able to help with some of these issues regarding the Carlos Ortiz vs. Teo Cruz bout on June 29, 1968 held in Santo Domingo. Zach Clayton served as referee/judge. Jose Soto (Puerto Rico) and Luis (sometimes called Carlos) Lugo (Dominican Republic) were the other two judges. Between the judge / referee issues and some money issues - this fight almost didn't go off. There are alot of discrepancies here. First, the scorecard was read wrong after the fight and it was called a unanimous decision. Clayton's card had the name Carlos written near the winner. The ring announcer assumed that Carlos "Teo" Ortiz was the unanimous winner. In fact, Clayton meant Carlos Ortiz making it a split decision.

New York Times / AP
25,000 fans were expected and about 8,000 fans showed up. Scorecards:
Clayton 131-130 Ortiz
Soto 145-142 Cruz
Lugo 146-121 Cruz

A misprint of 146-121 that went out over AP and Clayton's card is a mess. Ugh.

Other AP accounts stated that the title match was delayed for hours while waiting for the crowd to arrive.

UPI called it a split decision and didn't provide scores. Wise move. Those are the only two United States press accounts of the bout that I could locate. On to the Spanish language accounts. I've painstakingly gone thru these articles with various translation efforts despite my high school level Spanish.

El Caribe Dom Rep newspaper July 1, 1968
The Ortiz camp wanted either Zach Clayton or Arthur Mercante to referee but the promoters considered them too expensive. Juan Pablo Perez was a Venezuelan ref that was originally considered. The Ortiz camp didn't want him at all. Another judge named Julio Tonos took himself out of the running to judge the bout due to pay issues with Dominican Boxing and Wrestling Commission. It's unclear if Perez would have judged if he'd gotten the role or if the plan was to have Tonos be the third judge. Just over 5,000 paid to see the bout. An unbylined article had scores:

Clayton 131-130 Ortiz
Soto 145-142 Cruz
Lugo 146-141 Cruz

An article by Saul Perez Lozano of UPI also appeared in this issue of El Caribe.
Clayton 145-239 Cruz
Soto 145-140 Cruz
Lugo 146-121 Cruz

Listin Diario Dom Rep newspaper July 1, 1968
An article bylined by Felix Acosta Nunez
Clayton 130-121 Ortiz
Soto 145-142 Cruz
Lugo 146-142 Cruz

An article bylined by Buck Canel estimated attendance as barely 4,000. The article points out that Clayton's card was "badly made" and appeared to give the fight to Ortiz 131-130.
Clayton 130-121 Cruz
Soto 145-142 Cruz
Lugo 146-142 Cruz

An unsourced article about the issues with Clayton had following info.
Clayton 131-130 Ortiz
Soto 146-142 Cruz
Lugo 146-122 Cruz

The article itself says that Clayton claimed his scorecard was 144-141 Ortiz. Cruz was cut in the later rounds and Clayton touted the effectiveness of Ortiz's left jab in going after the cut. Clayton was sticking with that but yet claims he had it 11 rounds to 4 for Ortiz. So Cruz knocked Ortiz down in round 1. Call that a 10-8 round for Cruz. That would make an 11-4 scorecard total as 145-139 for Ortiz. Not what he claimed. After the fight, Clayton flew back to Puerto Rico with Ortiz, Bill Daly (manager of Ortiz) etc. That seems strange but was only in one account. One of the articles prior to the bout claimed Clayton had been stationed in Puerto Rico to come in as emergency fill in if needed.

El Mundo (Puerto Rico) newspaper July 1, 1968 article bylined by Rene Molina
Clayton 145-139 Ortiz
Soto 145-142 Cruz
Lugo 145-141 Cruz

Box rec has
Clayton 145-139 Ortiz
Judge 1 145-142 Cruz
Judge 2 148-141 Cruz

So that's really not much help either. I wonder if the Ring just covered up for Clayton and reported it as 145-139 going with the 11-4 rounds with a 10-8 first round? And that ends up being what Boxrec goes with I assume? Clayton's scorecard was obviously a mess. Did he miss scoring a round or even two rounds? Or add it wrong? As a judge, Clayton should not be influenced by any bleeding that Cruz was doing in his scoring. But, if the left jab was effective and Ortiz was going after the cut - ok that's some defense. The Cruz camp claimed after that Clayton was kicking their cut guy out of the ring with a few seconds left in between rounds. The point discrepancies on the scores for Soto and Lugo are disturbing and make it tough to trust any of these media sources.

At best, I submit this as evidence that referees shouldn't be allowed to serve as judges. At worst, a more thorough investigation of Clayton by WBA/WBC should have occurred. Their titles were at stake. Does anyone know when the next significant bout held in the Dominican Republic was after this? Even Cruz never fights there again. I know it's a long time until next big bout there and can't even think about how to figure that out. Given the attendance woes, the fight likely lost a ton of money as well as being a total fiasco.

One other thing - is there any relation between Cruz and Ortiz? Cruz was married to a Puerto Rican named Mildred Ortiz. Cruz actually trained in Puerto Rico and normally lived there. One article implied that Mildred Ortiz and Carlos Ortiz were cousins. Cruz's wife and children definitely didn't attend the fight though. Cruz's parents did attend so I'm not making too much out of this. Obviously, Ortiz is a very common name there and probably just a cheesy reference like an American newspaper would make someone with last name Johnson is a cousin of someone else with that name. Any ideas on that?

If anyone could check the Ring Magazine / Boxing Illustrated accounts of the bout or that year's Ring Record Book for any pertinent information - it'd be much appreciated. I'd be interested in the attendance reported in those publications as well as what's said about all the other nonsense.

[goose 5]

Ortiz told me personally that things went on in the Cruz bout that he would never discuss. Carlos was a great guy, very intelligent and interesting to talk with.

[Norman]

I did find another article now in my Listin Diaro scans where everyone denies that Mildred Cruz de Ortiz (Teo Cruz's wife) is related to Carlos Ortiz.  Apparently, a Dominican Boxing and Wrestling commissioner was either talking crap or was misquoted.  At least, that's one question solved.

[klompton]

Clayton was a crook.

[elmersalsa]

Ortiz told me personally that things went on in the Cruz bout that he would never discuss. Carlos was a great guy, very intelligent and interesting to talk with.

I always wanted to meet the great Carlos Ortiz. He looked like a guy that you can sit with and drink a lot of beers and talk about boxing.

[goose 5]

He also told me a fighter should never do more than 4 miles of roadwork in a day, even if training for a 15 round bout. some days, he only did 2 or 3 miles.

[elmersalsa]

He also told me a fighter should never do more than 4 miles of roadwork in a day, even if training for a 15 round bout. some days, he only did 2 or 3 miles.

What about sex before a fight? Did he ever discussed that with you?

[goose 5]

No, we never talked about that. Some random memories: He had very high praise for Dave Charnley. He didn't rate Tommy Tibbs too well and was surprised I was interested in Tibbs- I am a big New England boxing fan. He never heard of The Cocoa Kid. He said Sammy Scherin( excuse me if I spelled the surname incorrectly) was the best trainer he ever worked with. He felt he was robbed in the first Laguna bout-I agree . He thought Duran was susceptible to left hooks. I wanted to ask him about the rumor that he was knocked cold in sparring by Benny Huertas, but decided not to ask. His memory of fighting Arthur Persley was very vague and this surprised me because he was extremely sharp.

[elmersalsa]

It was a great showing by Carlos "Teo" Cruz of Dominican Republic. He became that country first boxing world champion.

I see that he dropped the great Carlos Ortiz earlier in the fight. But, it was much more of a push than a real punch. When Ortiz went down, the stadium went into a frenzy. Ortiz didn't have it that night. It was his time to be dethroned. You can't reign forever. Plus, Ortiz was in an age of 32. An age that you got to consider retirement.