Former world boxing champion Carlos Ortiz, one of the best Puerto Rican boxers, passed away this Monday at 85 years old in New York, as confirmed by the World Boxing Organization (WBO).
“The WBO family is in mourning for the passing of the legendary lightweight champion and Junior Welter Carlos Ortiz“, said the organization in a message on its official Twitter account.
The WBO assured that Ortiz was “one of the best and most popular fighters during the sixties”.
Born in Ponce, in the south of Puerto Rico, and raised in New York, the boxer was unable to recover from a stroke suffered a couple of months ago.
Ortiz won his first world crown in 1959, in the division called junior welterweight, and the second in the lightweight category in 1962.
In addition, he was included in 1991 in the Hall of Fame of the inter boxing
He is considered one of the five best Puerto Rican boxers of all time, along with Wilfredo Gómez, Félix ‘Tito’ Trinidad, Wilfredo Benítez and Miguel Cotto.
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