Victor Ortiz's Camp Denies Mayweather Rumors

Victor Ortiz's manager Rolando Arellano denied the rumors that have the fighter facing a returning Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September of this year earlier today, stating that Ortiz is "enjoying his time off" and is looking to sign a fight soon.

"That is a false rumor. I'm not sure where these things come from," Arrellano said.

Well, since he asked...

On May 4, KUsports.com reported this:

WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz, a native of Garden City, told the Journal-World on Tuesday night that he plans to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Sept. 16 in Las Vegas.

"I just need to look at the contract and make sure everything is OK," Ortiz said. "It's not 100 percent sure yet, but that's what I'm setting my sights on."

And the Kansan had this:

Next, Ortiz will face Floyd Mayweather Jr. The details of the fight are still being worked out, but Ortiz said contracts should be signed soon.

So, you know, that's where. Apparently they came from Victor Ortiz during a visit to Kansas, or at least that's how it was reported. Currently, BoxRec is listing a Mayweather-Ortiz fight for Cowboys Stadium on September 17, which is jumping the gun even for BoxRec. There have in fact been no strong rumors from within boxing, only rumors coming out of two original articles that seemed, at best, very, very, very preliminary. From what it seems looking at those quotes from the articles in Kansas, which weren't by guys who follow boxing much at all (it would seem, anyway), it appears that Ortiz might have made some comment like, "I would love to fight Floyd Mayweather!" It could have gone into any direction from there. Or maybe I'm wrong, but either way, this is seriously nothing more than rumor mill material.

Still, from past experience, where there's smoke with something that at least makes a little sense, there often is fire. The Spadafora rumor was ridiculous and everyone agreed that it was ridiculous. It was only talked about because it was so silly. But Ortiz makes some sense. He made a splash at welterweight, was seen by a lot of viewers that night, put on a good fight, raised his stock, beat the supposed next top welterweight, and I think a fighter like Mayweather looks at that whole package and licks his chops. Ortiz is made to order for Floyd in a lot of ways. He's the extra tomato taco that Floyd Sr. gets at Taco Bell. Everything Mayweather can exploit, Ortiz has, plus a history of mental weakness in the ring. (And by the way, that didn't not happen now that he beat Andre Berto.)

The fight does make sense. But it's still in pure rumor stage.

If Ortiz does not fight Mayweather, he has a mandatory title defense he could take against Selcuk Aydin (21-0, 16 KO), or he could look in another direction, but the truth is welterweight is dead empty for money fights at this point.