By James Slater: Whether you are intrigued by it or not, and whether you think it’s a mismatch in the favour of Floyd Mayweather Junior or not, the upcoming clash between “Money” and Victor Ortiz is heating up. Tuesday’s press conference in New York saw a somewhat subdued Ortiz, with the WBC welterweight champ making nothing but respectful comments. Floyd stole the show in New York, mainly by making it clear he is up for a mega-fight with Manny Pacquiao.
But at yesterday’s L.A press conference, Ortiz, feeling slighted and unappreciated by all Mayweather’s Pac-Man talk, came close to boiling point. As reported by Ring.tv, Ortiz, pumped up by the largely pro crowd of around 500, got into Mayweather’s face a number of times. Ortiz later explained how he had had it in his mind to “smack” Mayweather for something he had said to him as they were face-to-face.
“I was going to smack him,” Ortiz said. “I was going to lay him out. He said something I didn’t like. He said something like, ‘you don’t got this.’ No, man, I DO got this! I’m not Juan Manuel Marquez or Shane Mosley, I’m the WBC champ and nobody’s going to take my title.”
Ortiz used his fair share of abusive language as he spoke at the podium, and he was really ticked off when “Money” began speaking about a future fight with Pacquiao. Ortiz is convinced it will be he who winds up facing Pac-Man, after he upsets the currently unbeaten superstar in September.
“It’s a slap in the face to talk about Pacquiao,” Ortiz said. “If he’s overlooking me he’s got a problem. He’s got to fight me first and I was born for this moment. Mayweather’s speed and his style do not worry me. Whatever style he wants to bring, I’ll be ready for it.”
Ortiz sure has the persona of a hugely live underdog. For his part, Mayweather said he wanted to fight an opponent younger than he is, so as to silence those critics who have accused him of facing “old men.”
“I wanted a young, strong fighter,” Mayweather explained. “When I beat Marquez and Mosley everybody said they were over the hill. Ok, so now I’m fighting someone younger than me. Now, if you give me a strong, young fighter who comes to fight and isn’t going to try to survive, like Ricky Hatton, I’ll give the fans a good fight and believe me, he’ll get knocked out like Ricky did.”
Can Floyd score his first KO victory since the December 2007 10th-round stoppage of “The Hitman?” For sure, I don’t see this particular Mayweather fight being in any way boring. Ortiz is for real, and Mayweather will be pushing 35 come fight night. I think this fight will be a lot rougher for Floyd than most people seem to think.
Ortiz has shocked the odds before, and as he says, he’s in no mood to give up that title!