Yes, Victor Ortiz has been here for years. We’ve seen Victor Ortiz grow from a prospect to a world champion. In the process, we’ve basically seen it all from Victor Ortiz, who is never short on theatre and is almost never in an uninteresting fight whether it is because of action or because something always seems to happen in his fights outside of the norm. But Victor Ortiz is back this Thursday when he takes on Luis Collazo in the main event of a Fox Sports 1 card in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center.
Ortiz has been out of the ring for over 18 months since he lost to Josesito Lopez. In that fight he suffered a broken jaw. So when time off was needed, it was understood. No one would have guessed it would have taken close to 19 months until we saw Ortiz back in the ring. It came to a point where some thought he just didn’t want to box anymore as he played a movie role in Expendables 3 and was a cast member of Dancing with the Stars.
Ortiz says he was just taking advantages of certain things that were coming his way. “At the of the day I took my break, I took it for it what it was worth and let my jaw heal right. I had opportunities come my way so why not? I did things most in the sport of boxing haven’t been able to do and most people in general,” Ortiz said in a conference call with the media last week.
The itch is still there for Ortiz and it made it tough for him to even follow the sport. He says, “It was tough for me to watch boxing. I tried to stay away from watching it because a lot of contenders were there by accident; a lot of the champions were there because I wasn’t. I seen a lot of fighters that I know I could beat and it was tough for me to watch boxing. All the movies and stuff comes and goes, but boxing is my home, and I’m happy to be back.”
Ortiz is happy to be back. He misses training, misses sparring, and misses the ring. The only thing he doesn’t miss he says, is the media. Who can blame him? The label quitter was brought on him after he retired from the Marcos Maidana fight. Who are we to tell what a boxer’s pain thresh hole is? Ortiz was doing what he felt was right. Of course we could have done without the famous, “I don’t deserve to get beat up like this” quote but it happens. Who are we to know how the fight would have played out and the damage he would have took in the rest of that fight affected the then only 23 year old Ortiz.
After his fight of the year candidate with Andre Berto, we were waiting on it to come after he was knocked down by Berto because of the Maidana fight. It never came and Ortiz out willed Berto and became a world champion.
Yes, we all remember the Floyd Mayweather fight and we remember the head butt, the kisses, and the one-two shot by Mayweather that cleaned Ortiz out that many considered a cheap shot. We labeled him unstable.
His jaw was broken in the Josesito Lopez fight and again he couldn’t continue because of it and you could hear it; the same stigma, the same Victor Ortiz, the quitter. But I don’t know what it is to be in a battle of wills where someone’s trying to take your head off fighting with a broken jaw.
The criticisms fair or not come with the territory and Ortiz says, “I just kind of deal with it, at the end of the day it comes to me. I’ve learned a lot as a youngster, I learned a lot very quick. I just don’t have to pay attention. I am a veteran and I’m ready for the next step in my boxing journey.”
That journey begins on Thursday in his fight with Collazo. Both fighters have a common opponent in Andre Berto. While Ortiz defeated Berto, Collazo came up short on the judges’ card. While he is the A-side in this fight, Ortiz feels Collazo is no pushover.
“He’s a very good fighter. You guys say what’s next after this and I can’t tell you because if I don’t beat Collazo, there is no next. A lot of people have counted him short and in my opinion he beat Berto, so this is a tough fight,” stated Ortiz.
It’s the right mind set. Ortiz could have easily said I want Canelo and Mayweather because he was in line to face Canelo and many people still want to see how the rest of the Mayweather fight would have played out. Maybe Ortiz is a veteran now and maybe a break is what he needed to come back even stronger. Just like the LL Cool J song, “Mama Said Knock You Out,” Ortiz says, “Don’t call it a comeback. I’m not going anywhere anytime soon, it’s a continuation of my career, I never left or retired, just took a break. I’m back January 30th.”
