Victor Ortiz

Victor Ortiz
Victor Ortiz (2011)
Data
Birth Name	Victor Manuel Ortiz
Weight class	Welterweight
nationality	US-american
birthday	January 31, 1987
place of birth	Garden City
style	Southpaw
size	1.75 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	41
Victories	32
Knockout victories	25th
Defeats	6th
draw	3

Victor Ortiz with the WBC World Championship belt before defending his title against Floyd Mayweather Jr. (left)

Victor Manuel Ortiz (born January 31, 1987 in Garden City , Kansas ) is an American professional boxer and actor of Mexican descent. He is a former WBC welterweight champion.

Youth and amateur career

Victor Ortiz is the son of Mexican immigrants and has an older sister and a younger brother. His mother left the family when he was seven years old. He then continued to grow up with his father, whom he describes as alcoholic and violent. When he was twelve years old, his father also left the family, whereupon he and his siblings grew up with foster parents.

He was brought to boxing by his father when he was still a child and trained in the Garden City Boxing Club under Ignacio "Bucky" Ávila, whom he saw as a substitute for his father. Other training sites in his amateur career included a Salvation Army Red Shield Community Center of the Salvation Army and the La Colonia Youth Boxing Club in California . At the age of 16, he was adopted by his now of legal age sister, who moved to Denver with him and their second brother .

As an amateur boxer, he won 141 out of 161 fights; he is a winner of the Kansas Golden Gloves , the Ringside National Championships , the Junior Olympics and the Police Athletic League . Instead of participating in the 2004 Summer Olympics , he instead became a professional boxer at the age of 17. He lives in Oxnard , Ventura County, California.

Professional career

He won his first seven fights in a row, five of them by knockout (knockout). On June 3, 2005 he boxed in his hometown of Oxnard against Corey Alarcon (11 wins - 9 losses). Ortiz clearly dominated the fight and was able to send his opponent to the ground in the first round. Towards the end of the first round, the referee separated the two clinging boxers, whereupon Ortiz sent his opponent to the ground again with an uppercut. Alarcon fell under the ring ropes and was counted. The referee considered the blow to be a foul because it occurred during the split and subsequently disqualified Ortiz; Alarcon was then declared the winner.

However, he won his next nine fights, six of which by knockout; he also won unanimously on points against former WBO world champion Alfred Kotey . On January 19, 2007, he boxed in Phoenix against the undefeated Marvin Cordova (12-0). Already in the first round Cordova landed an unintentional headbutt at Ortiz, which left him with a bleeding cut injury, which led to the referee breaking off the fight; since the headbutt was not intentional, the fight was considered a technical draw.

He was also able to win his next eight fights, all of them prematurely. On November 10, 2007, he defeated former WBA world champion Carlos Maussa by knockout in the first round. On September 13, 2008, he won the North American championship title of the WBO light welterweight, by a knockout victory in the fifth round against the South American champion Roberto Arrieta. On December 6, 2008, he defended his title by knockout in the second round against Jeffrey Resto. On March 7, 2009, he won by a knockout victory in the second round against Mike Arnaoutis , in addition the US championship.

On June 27, 2009 in Los Angeles he got the chance for the interim World Championship of the WBA against Marcos Maidana (25-1, 24 knockout's), the most powerful boxer in the light welterweight division. In the spectacular duel, Maidana went down three times in the first two rounds, Ortiz also in rounds 1 and 6. In the sixth round the ring doctor broke off the fight because he considered a cut injury over Ortiz's right eye to be too severe . Maidana was then declared the winner by technical knockout. Until the fight was stopped, Ortiz had been in the lead with all three judges.

On December 12, 2009 he won against Antonio Díaz (46-5-1) due to injury due to Díaz's corner. On May 15, 2010 he won by unanimous points victory against former IBF, WBA and WBO world champion Nate Campbell , where he also had him on the ground in the first round. On September 18, 2010 he won by knockout in the third round against former WBA world champion Vivian Harris . Harris already went down three times in round 2.

On December 11, 2010 he played a fight in Las Vegas against the later double world champion Lamont Peterson . Although Ortiz was able to knock his opponent down in round 3, the fight ended in a draw after 12 rounds.

On April 16, 2011 he boxed against the undefeated Andre Berto (27-0) for the WBC world welterweight title. Berto was number 3 in the world rankings and played his sixth title defense against Ortiz. Ortiz managed to knock down in the first lap, but had to go down in the second lap himself. In the sixth round both boxers managed a knockdown, but the more aggressive Ortiz won the fight after 12 rounds by unanimous decision. The fight was also voted "Fight of the Year" by Ring Magazine .

On September 17, 2011, there was a clash in Las Vegas with the undefeated, former 6-time world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (41-0), who got back into the ring for the first time in over 16 months. The fight ended controversially. When Ortiz apologized to Mayweather after a deliberate headbutt in the fourth round, the latter took advantage of the situation and knocked the uncovered Ortiz to the ground with a left followed by a right. Ortiz was then tallied by referee Joe Cortez. Since Cortez had turned to the judges because of the point deduction against Ortiz, he does not want to have recognized the precipitation as unsportsmanlike and assumed a regular precipitation. Mayweather has been heavily criticized by some observers and commentators for this behavior. Legendary subsequent interview was HBO presenter Larry Merchant , who delivered with Mayweather a wild altercation and the interview by saying: "I wish I would be 50 years younger ... I would kick your ass" ( "I Wish I Was 50 Years Younger ... I Would Kick Your Ass ”) ended.

Ortiz was supposed to box against Andre Berto again next. This planned rematch had to be canceled, however, as Berto was proven to be taking performance-enhancing drugs. Instead Ortiz boxed on June 23, 2012 in Los Angeles against Josesito López (29-4) for the WBC silver welterweight title. Ortiz had to give up the fight after the ninth round, however, due to a double broken jaw. Until the end of the tKo-rated fight, he had been in the lead with all three judges.

After a subsequent break of over 19 months, he rose again on January 30, 2014 in Brooklyn against the former WBA world champion Luis Collazo (34-5) in the ring and tried to secure the WBA International Welterweight Championship. Ortiz went down at the end of the second round after a hit from Collazo, who was also boxing in the right-hand display, and was counted out by referee Benjy Esteves. The fight was rated as a knockout defeat.

He played his next fight on December 13, 2014 in Las Vegas against Manuel Pérez (22-10). He won after a slow start by tKo in the third round after referee Vic Drakulich broke off the fight after a knockdown by Pérez. Due to a wrist injury, he then had to take a longer break and did not return to the ring until December 2015. He defeated the Mexican Gilberto Sanchez Leon (33-13) by tKo in the eighth round.

On April 30, 2016, the long-awaited and twice postponed rematch between Victor Ortiz and Andre Berto took place in the StubHub Center in California . Ortiz showed good performance at the beginning and had Berto on the ground in the second round, but was knocked down twice in the fourth round and lost by knockout.

He had his next appearance on July 30, 2017 in Bakersfield , when he won by knockout in the fourth round against the Mexican Saul Corral (25-9). He drew against Devon Alexander (27-4), former IBF and WBC title holder, in February 2018.

Filmography (selection)

• 2014: The Expendables 3
• 2015: Southpaw
• 2016: Ray Donovan (2 episodes)
• 2016: Hawaii Five-0 (1 episode)
• 2016: Life in Pieces (1 episode)
• 2017: Once Upon a Time in Venice

Others

2013 Ortiz was a participant in the 16th season of Dancing with the Stars , where he reached the 8th place with his dance partner Lindsay Arnold.

In 2014 he took on a leading role in the action film The Expendables 3 . He also got a role in the boxer film Southpaw .

Web links

• Profile in the BoxRec database
• Victor Ortiz in the Internet Movie Database (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
Andre Berto	Welterweight Boxing Champion ( WBC ) April 16, 2011 - September 17, 2011	Floyd Mayweather Jr.