Tuesday’s inaugural press conference in New York to announce the September 17th Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz clash served as definite display of contrast between the two fighters. The undefeated Mayweather will look to snatch the WBC welterweight crown away from the undefeated Ortiz in a fight that has many people buzzing but there is a big difference in the experience level between each man.
At 34 years of age, Mayweather has been around boxing’s block countless times while facing some of the sport’s biggest names in some of this decade’s biggest attractions. While talented in his own right, the 24-year old Ortiz has never been on a level like this before and the hoopla that comes with an event of this magnitude is slightly new to him.
<--- Slideshow: Behind the scenes in New York at the Mayweather-Ortiz presser
The fan support inside of the Hudson Theatre in Manhattan was overwhelmingly in Floyd’s favor yet Ortiz took everything in stride as he spoke on the dais.
“I realize there is a lot of love-hate kind of stuff going on,” Ortiz said with a grin as he addressed the crowd. “That’s awesome. It’s part of the game. Here’s the thing though, tell me one thing I haven’t already heard man. My mom and Dad, they left me. People who loved me, they left me. But you know what? Nowadays I’m facing one of the best fighters of all time and that was a dream of mine as a little kid.”
Ortiz is pretty mild-mannered kid but he isn’t one without some attitude, showing striking pre-fight rhetoric leading up to his upset over Andre Berto last April and often possessing a cocky smirk inside of the ring that beguiles his down-to-earth demeanor. But as he addressed his soon-to-be opponent, Ortiz was simply grateful to be finding himself in the ring with somebody like Mayweather Jr.
“I just want to say thank you for giving me a shot,” Ortiz said, turning his attention to Mayweather. “You know what? At the end of the day I don’t really have any bad things to say about Mayweather. He’s the pound-for-pound champion of the world recognized by one and all. I don’t care who’s got anything negative to say. The only bad thing is now I am champion of the world, I’m newly crowned, and I’m not giving that up. Just like he did not give it up for ten years or a decade, I’m not giving mine up.”
Ortiz then turned things up a notch, fully aware of the constant hate he had been receiving after his upset loss to Marcos Maidana a few summers ago, a bout in which Ortiz elected not to continue in the sixth round after things got a little too hot. It’s a different time for the Southern California star these days and he isn’t looking to let his momentum slow heading into his fight against the man regarded as one of the top two biggest draws in the sport.
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“I’m not supposed to be here, I’m supposed to just be a statistic,” he continued. “I’m just tired of ‘you can’t do this’ or ‘you can’t do that’. Anything’s possible. Nothing’s impossible. If Armstrong went to the moon, why can’t I hold on to my title for the next fifteen years? Bernard Hopkins is doing that.”
Ortiz then reached into his bag of tricks and tried to offer a forewarning of his own, bringing Floyd’s Uncle and trainer Roger Mayweather into the fray.
“As a matter of fact and I hope I’m not offending anyone, but July 7th, 1985, there is going to be a repetition on September 17th. It was Mr. Roger Mayweather vs. Julio Cesar Chavez.”
One that night Mayweather was woefully unsuccessful as he was taken out in under two rounds against the legendary Chavez in his pursuit of claiming his WBC junior lightweight crown. Nearly four years later Mayweather would show himself to be far more competitive against Chavez during their rematch in Inglewood, California, a fine fight in which Roger was broken down for a 10th round stoppage.
Logic says Ortiz would settle for any kind of victory whatsoever over today’s Mayweather.
Chris Robinson is based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. He can be reached at [email protected]
