Las Vegas— Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Victor Ortiz stood nose to nose Friday, on the eve of their world welterweight championship fight, having trained their bodies to peak condition.
Ortiz pressed his forehead to his challenger's, Mayweather pushed forward. For emphasis, Mayweather's right hand grasped at Ortiz's neck, a finger jamming upward under the champion's jaw.
The most important fact of the day was that Ortiz, 24, weighed in at the welterweight limit of 147 pounds while the 34-year-old Mayweather (41-0, 25 knockouts) weighed 1461/2.
Establishing why this confrontation occurred was speculation.
"Mayweather's pretty nervous, he knows he'll have the hardest fight of his life," Ortiz's trainer, Danny Garcia, said.
"Distractions are only things you see when you lose focus," Ortiz's manager Rolando Arellano said. "Mayweather can do whatever … he wants. We got one thing on our mind, and if a legendary 41-0 fighter has to do that, that's a clear sign of insecurity and inadequacy."
Mayweather's chief advisor, Leonard Ellerbe, blamed the escalation on Ortiz's immaturity.
"The kid's never been on a stage like this before," said Ellerbe. "He finally realized, 'I'm going to be fighting the great Floyd Mayweather.'
"Floyd, as always, was cool and calm. You could see the kid's nerves looking into his eyes."
The fighters were then represented in a rules meeting with the Nevada State Athletic Commission and the World Boxing Council.
The Ortiz camp has already written a letter to the commission alleging Mayweather throws too many elbows. Mayweather will be paid a guaranteed $25 million for the bout, with Ortiz earning $2 million.
However, as the fight wore on and fatigue set in, Ortiz’s punches became less and less compact. The shot he took from Berto that floored him in Round 6 was because his combinations became more looping than short, more open than compact. That cannot happen against Mayweather. Where Berto may be bullet-fisted, Mayweather’s punches are more like lasers: they are fast, straight and unforgivingly precise. Ortiz can’t leave himself open for anything like he did against Berto and hope to come out on top.
Yep, “Vicious” Victor Ortiz will have to be just that: vicious. He’ll need to be equal parts fierce and ferocious. Like he did against Berto, Ortiz will have to come to the ring focused, determined and just plain mean. More than that, though, he’ll have to drag Mayweather somewhere he’s never been before: down for the count. Ortiz is generally a nice guy outside of the ring, but in the ring on Saturday, he’ll need to have a scowl on his face. He’ll need to be a beast.
His aggression will need to dictate the fight. Mayweather should always be stepping backwards and never comfortable. Ortiz will need to come in with his guard high ready to throw punches. He’ll need to push Mayweather where he wants him and he’ll need to unload on him whenever he gets the opportunity.
Most importantly, if he catches Mayweather with something solid and hurts him, he’ll need to finish the job. Mayweather has shown the ability in his career to come back after taking some pretty decent shots to recover quickly, so Ortiz will need to make sure Mayweather doesn’t have any time to do so. He’ll need to unload hard, fast and heavy. Once Ortiz puts him to the canvas (rather, if he puts him to the canvas) he’ll need to have been vicious enough during their preceding time together in the ring that Mayweather will not want to get back up and fight — even if he can.
It won’t be easy, but it can happen. Ortiz can shock the world Saturday night, but he’ll need everything he has. He’ll need to be more than a volume puncher, more than a short, powerful combination puncher and more than vicious. He’ll need to be all those things combined. He’ll need to be great. He’ll need to be the best.
All About:
Victor Ortiz, born January 31, 1987 is an American professional boxer and the current WBC World Welterweight Champion.
He was previously in the Light Welterweight division, where he held the USBA title and the WBO NABO title. Ortiz, with a crowd-pleasing, aggressive style, two-fisted power and boyish charm, was made the 2008 ESPN Prospect of the Year. Ortiz holds the extraordinary distinction of having knocked down every opponent he has faced.
He is currently rated as one of the "top two" Welterweight boxers in the world by most sporting news and boxing websites, including The Ring, BoxRec.com, and ESPN.
The first loss and the two draws on Ortiz's record, are not counted as significant due to the fact the loss came by way of disqualification in the first round for knocking Corey Alarcon cold with an uppercut off a clinch in a mismatch. The first of two draws was a first-round technical draw in January 2007, when Ortiz was thrashing Marvin Cordova Jr. and in all likelihood leading towards a knockout win when an accidental head-butt opened a cut on Ortiz's forehead and rendered him unable to continue. The second draw was a controversial one against Lamont Peterson, as ESPN.com and HBO unofficial scorer Harold Lederman both had it 97-91 in favor for the 23-year-old Ortiz.
He is commonly known by the nickname "Vicious" Victor Ortiz.
On September 17th, Victor Ortiz will, after dramatically winning the title from the previously undefeated Andre Berto in a fight regarded as a Fight of the Year Contender, fight the former "number one" pound-for-pound best boxer in the world, Floyd Mayweather, Jr., in one of the most eagerly anticipated boxing matches of 2011. The fight will be for Ortiz's WBC Welterweight title. Ortiz will be Mayweather's first opponent in 16 months.
Early life
Ortiz was born and raised in Garden City, Kansas, the second of three children of Mexican immigrant parents. When he was seven years old, Ortiz's mother abandoned his family for a relationship with another man. Shortly thereafter, Ortiz began boxing at the insistence of his father, an alcoholic who often beat his children following his wife's departure. In an interview, Victor said, "I hated that lady. I drew her a card once with a little rose on it and I gave it to her. She just threw it down and said 'What do I want that shit for?' That's when I picked up boxing. Then my Dad started screwing up, drinking."
Ortiz' father also abandoned the family five years after their mother left, which forced Ortiz and his five siblings into the Kansas foster care system. Ortiz was ten years old at the time. When he won the Kansas Golden Gloves championship, he was dealing drugs (ecstasy and marijuana). Then Ortiz saw his image in the newspaper after winning the Golden Gloves and it moved him. Ortiz said, "The photo came out all over Kansas and that's when it hit me... I realized that I didn't need to be involved with selling drugs in order to make something of myself. I said screw this. I don't need all this crap or this guilt." His older sister would become a legal adult in 2002 and moved to Denver, Colorado. Ortiz and his younger brother left Kansas and moved in with her.
Amateur career
While training at a Salvation Army Red Shield Community Center, he was noticed by former heavyweight boxing contender Ron Lyle, who had become a supervisor at the center. In 2003, Lyle guided Ortiz to a Junior Olympics tournament, where, at the age of sixteen, he won the 132-pound weight division with a perfect 5-0 record. This time, he was noticed by another former boxer, Roberto Garcia, who had held the IBF Super Featherweight Championship during the 1990s and whose father was the trainer of Fernando Vargas.
Move to Oxnard
Though Garcia was based in Oxnard, California, he offered to train Ortiz, who accepted and moved from Colorado to California, where he began training at Oxnard's famous La Colonia Youth Boxing Club. Garcia later became Ortiz's legal guardian, and Ortiz graduated from Pacifica High School. At age seventeen, Ortiz reached the United States Olympic boxing trials in the 132-pound weight class, where he was eliminated in the final stages. (The weight class was instead won by Vicente Escobedo.)
Ortiz turned professional later in 2004 while still only seventeen years of age. When he reached the age of eighteen in 2005 and became a legal adult, he gained custody of his younger brother, who is now a college student. Ortiz continues to reside in Ventura, California.
Victor Ortiz boxed at The Garden City Boxing club where he was trained by five trainers who all worked together to get him ahead in his boxing career. His original trainers included Ignacio "Buck" Avilia, Manuel Rios, Antonio Orozco Sr., Juan M. Aldana Jr., and Alfred Ritz. He won the Ringside National Title in 2001 and 2002 and the National Jr. Olympics in 2002.
Boxing Style
Ortiz is a right-hander who nevertheless chooses to fight from a southpaw stance. Ortiz has stated, "I’m naturally right-handed. Everything I do is right-handed. My power is just built on my left hand, somehow. Fighting left-handed was just more comfortable for me. I was just a better boxer that way. My defense was better, I didn’t get hit as much. I just developed myself into a left-hander. I don’t even like to switch to right-handed."
Professional career
Junior Welterweight
After turning professional, Ortiz easily won his first seven fights against weak opposition. However, on June 3, 2005, Ortiz was controversially disqualified in the first round of a bout against unknown Corey Alarcon in Oxnard. After having already knocked Alarcon down once in the round, Ortiz knocked him down again shortly after referee David Denkin ordered the fighters to separate from a clinch. Alarcon stayed down for the count, and was awarded the fight based on Denkin's judgment that Ortiz's knockout punch had been an illegal punch during a break.
Following the fight with Alarcon, Ortiz continued to win and had built a record of 18-1-1 as of August 30, 2007, when he fought his first well-known opponent, Emmanuel Clottey of Ghana, in only his second bout scheduled for ten rounds. Ortiz defeated Clottey by technical knockout in the tenth and final round. Three months later, Ortiz followed up on his victory with another knockout win, this time in the first round of a ten-round bout against former junior welterweight titlist Carlos Maussa of Colombia.
On September 13, 2008, Ortiz fought his first bout scheduled for twelve rounds, against Roberto David Arrieta of Argentina. Ortiz knocked Arrieta down in the second, fourth, and fifth rounds, and won by technical knockout in the fifth round. At the end of 2008, ESPN named Ortiz the boxing prospect of the year.
On March 7, 2009, Ortiz fought his first bout televised on HBO World Championship Boxing against Mike Arnaoutis of Greece, who had fought top-ten junior welterweight contenders such as Juan Urango, Ricardo Torres, and Kendall Holt without ever having been knocked out. However, Ortiz scored a technical knockout of Arnaoutis in the second round.
Comeback
Before the Maidana fight Ortiz fired Roberto Garcia and Garcia's father. Ortiz expressed how the Garcias constantly humiliated him through derogatory speech but would then hire Garcia's brother Danny. After recovering from a broken wrist and switching trainers, Ortiz announced his return fight would be on HBO Boxing After Dark. On December 12, 2009, Ortiz bounced back from the defeat he suffered vs Maidana to stop the former IBA Light Welterweight champion Antonio Díaz, who failed to answer the bell for seventh round. Ortiz then fought Hector Alatorre on February 25, 2010 winning by TKO in the tenth and final round.
Ortiz vs. Campbell
Ortiz was victorious in a unanimous decision victory over Nate Campbell on May 15 at Madison Square Garden on the Undercard of Khan vs Malignaggi bout. Ortiz, 23, was quicker, more active and landed heavier shots throughout the fight. Campbell, 38, did not seem to have much steam on his punches on the few occasions that he landed anything solid. He also appeared troubled all fight by Ortiz's southpaw style and straight left hand as he followed Ortiz around. Ortiz scored a knockdown on a short right hand, although it also looked like he shoved Campbell.
Ortiz vs. Harris
On September 18, 2010 Victor faced former WBC and WBA Light Welterweight Champion Vivian Harris on the Shane Mosley vs. Sergio Mora undercard at Staples Center. He was on ESPN's SportsNation to promote the fight with Harris. Victor landed 25-of-54 power punches. He dropped Harris with both hands and landed some nasty power punches. That short right really showed off the unique power possessed by Ortiz. Ortiz knocked Harris down three times in the second round en route to a knock out win with :45 seconds left in the third round.
Ortiz vs. Peterson
On the undercard of Amir Khan vs. Marcos Maidana, Ortiz faced former title challenger Lamont Peterson on December 11 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Peterson went down for the first time from a right hand that finished a four-punch combination. Peterson got up quickly and did not appear hurt. But he was moments later from another punch and he grabbed on to Ortiz as they tumbled to the mat. But when the fight resumed, Ortiz was on Peterson again and knocked him hard into the ropes, which held him up and caused referee Vic Drakulich to call the second knockdown of the round with about 30 seconds to go. One judge scored the bout a win for Peterson with the other two remaining judges scoring the bout a draw, the fight will go down on record as a draw. This was despite those who were in attendance saying that Ortiz clearly won the fight.
Andre Berto vs. Victor Ortiz
Ortiz fought Andre Berto for the WBC welterweight title on April 16, 2011 at the Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket. Hailed as the early pick for the fight of the year Ortiz won the fight by unanimous decision over Berto. They both came out aggressively, then just over a minute into the round, Ortiz landed a shot behind Berto’s head and Berto went down. Berto and Ortiz exchanged knockdowns in their fights with both of them going down twice. Both fighters were hurt in that fight. However, Berto took a lot of punishment while against the ropes and looked to be exhausted after the 6th. Ortiz had his way from the 7th on and only had to worry about an occasional big punch from Berto. The judges scored the match 115-110, 114-112 and 114-111 all for the new WBC Welterweight Champion.
Star Power
On June, 7, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. announced via twitter that he and Ortiz had an agreement to fight on September, 17, 2011.The fight is for Ortiz's WBC Welterweight belt. Mayweather, ten years older than Ortiz, will be challenging Ortiz after a 16-month hiatus from boxing.
