Victor Ortiz returns Feb. 25; Oscar talks Margarito

Golden Boy's junior welterweight prospect Victor Ortiz looks to continue his path of "redemption" with a February 25 fight at Club Nokia, a total stay-warm bout against Hector Alatorre.

Ortiz (25-2-1, 20 KO) lost in a bad way last summer against Marcos Maidana in a terrific war of a fight where many felt that Ortiz simply quit, and then questioned his guts after his post-fight interview. To be fair, the interview was highly questionable to say the least.

But Ortiz, 22, says that's all in the past. He returned in December against veteran Antonio Diaz, winning when Diaz was unable to continue after six rounds. Ortiz looked quite tentative in the early part of the fight, but did pick it up a bit when he got comfortable.

Alatorre (16-8, 5 KO) is not the opponent that will tell us if anything's really changed with Ortiz. It's a fight he's beyond, to be honest. The 28-year-old Alatorre has lost eight of his last ten fights and is nothing more than a club fighter.

The good news, according to Lance Pugmire of the LA Times, is that a "source close to" Ortiz says that after this, a fight with former lightweight titlist Nate Campbell looks to be next. Campbell recently signed a deal with Golden Boy Promotions and seemed to struggle badly moving up in weight last August against Timothy Bradley, a fight truncated when Campbell suffered an eye injury.

Ortiz-Alatorre will be broadcast on Golden Boy's "Fight Night Club" series, which has moved to Fox Sports Net.

Robert Morales reports from the Ortiz presser that Oscar de la Hoya expressed "disgust" at the coming return of Antonio Margarito, but I think if you read between the lines you can, as usual, note some weird inconsistency in what Oscar is saying.

"I'm disgusted. The fact that they're going over California ... to get a license, I'm very disgusted by it. ... When you're messing with somebody's life in that ring, you should be banned for life. That's my opinion. ... If Margarito just comes out clean and says, 'Look, I did this, I'm sorry,' then that's a different story. He's admitting it and that's fine. But admit it."

So in summary:

1. Oscar is disgusted
2. Oscar thinks Margarito should be banned for life, UNLESS
3. Margarito admits he did it and apologizes, at which point it is "fine"

Anyone else have any major problems with the idea that an apology from Margarito makes glove-loading "fine"?