The 25 year-old, who has had his attitude quizzed on more than one occasion, claimed a broken jaw at the beginning of the round and may now see his WBC light-middleweight title bout against Saul Alvarez on September 15 scrapped.
Ortiz had been on top for the most part in the fight and clearly had the superior power of the two fighters, with Lopez only having sparing success as the Riverside fighter clinched when hurt up close on many occasions.
A punch to the back of the head by Ortiz saw the bout halted for a couple of minutes in the fifth and at that point it looked like the ‘Vicious’ one would take Lopez out in the mid-to-late rounds until the injury ended the fight prematurely.
It is too early to tell if Lopez has now earned himself a shot at Alvarez’s title and whether Ortiz could sell a pay-per-view with his reputation for finding a way out cropping up again to haunt him is up for debate yet again.
Alvarez, who was ringside just two rows back, looked on bemused as Ortiz signalled that the fight was over and may now have to find another opponent for the fourth time following the injuries to Paul Williams and James Kirkland.
