Victor Ortiz
This article is about the American boxer and actor. For the
Honduran footballer, see Víctor Ortiz. For the Puerto Rican politician, see Víctor
Manuel Ortíz.
Victor Ortiz (born January 31, 1987) is an American professional
boxer and film actor. He is a former WBC welterweight champion,having
previously fought at light welterweight, where he held the USBA and NABO
regional titles. His crowd-pleasing and aggressive fighting style made him the
2008 ESPN Prospect of the Year.
Ortiz was formerly rated as one of the top three welterweight boxers in the
world by most sporting news and boxing websites, including The Ring
magazine,BoxRec, and ESPN.
The first loss and two draws on Ortiz's record are not counted as
significant due to the fact the loss came by way of disqualification in the
first round for knocking Corey Alarcon cold with an uppercut off a clinch. The
first of two draws was a first-round technical draw in January 2007, when Ortiz
faced Marvin Cordova Jr., during which an accidental headbutt opened a cut on
Ortiz's forehead and rendered him unable to continue.The second draw was a
controversial one against Lamont Peterson, as both ESPN.com and HBO's
unofficial scorer Harold Lederman saw the fight 97–91 in favor for the
23-year-old Ortiz.
Outside of boxing, Ortiz has had roles in the films The Expendables 3
(2014) and the sports drama Southpaw (2015).
Early life
Ortiz was born and raised in Garden City, Kansas, and is the third of four
children of Mexican parents. When he was seven years old, Ortiz's mother
abandoned her family for a relationship with another man. Shortly thereafter,
Ortiz began boxing at the insistence of his father, an alcoholic who often beat
his children following his wife's departure. In an interview, Victor said,
"I hated that lady. I drew her a card once with a little rose on it and I
gave it to her. She just threw it down and said 'What do I want that shit for?'
That's when I picked up boxing. Then my Dad started screwing up, drinking.
Ortiz' father also abandoned the family five years after their mother left,
which forced Ortiz and his five siblings into the Kansas foster care system.
Ortiz was twelve years old at the time.His older sister became a legal adult in
2002 and moved to Denver, Colorado. Ortiz and his younger brother left Kansas
and moved in with her.
Amateur career
While training at a Salvation Army Red Shield Community Center,he was
noticed by former heavyweight boxing contender Ron Lyle, who had become a
supervisor at the center. In 2003, Lyle guided Ortiz to a Junior Olympics
tournament, where, at the age of sixteen, he won the 132-pound weight division
with a perfect 5-0 record. This time, he was noticed by another former boxer, Roberto
Garcia, who had held the IBF Super Featherweight Championship during the 1990s
and whose father was the trainer of Fernando Vargas.
Move to California
Though Garcia was based in Oxnard, California, he offered to train Ortiz,
who accepted and moved from Colorado to California, where he began training at
Oxnard's famous La Colonia Youth Boxing Club. Garcia later became Ortiz's legal
guardian, and Ortiz graduated from Pacifica High School. At age 16, Ortiz won
the 2003 Police Athletic League national championships in Toledo, then at
seventeen, Ortiz reached the United States Olympic boxing trials in the
132-pound weight class, where he was eliminated in the champion's bracket
semifinals (The weight class was instead won by Vicente Escobedo).
Ortiz turned professional later in 2004 while still only seventeen years of
age. When he reached the age of eighteen in 2005 and became a legal adult, he
gained custody of his younger brother, who is now a college student. Ortiz
continues to reside in Ventura, California.
Victor Ortiz boxed at The Garden City Boxing club where he was trained by
five trainers who all worked together to get him ahead in his boxing career.
His original trainers included Ignacio "Buck" Avilia, Manuel Rios,
Antonio Orozco Sr., Juan M. Aldana Jr. and Alfred Ritz. He won the Ringside
National Title in 2001 and 2002 and the National Jr. Olympics in 2002.
