Mayweather vs Ortiz Los Angeles Press Conference Replay

The second of two back-to-back press conferences for the September 17 fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr vs Victor Ortiz is live tonight, with the video below going live at 10:30 pm EDT. The conference is expected to start at 11pm EDT, but yesterday they were about an hour late, so we’ll see.

Mayweather vs Ortiz Has Rematch Clause for Vicious Victor

Michael Marley of the Examiner reports that Victor Ortiz had to agree to a rematch clause in order to land his September 17 fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Ortiz also says he hopes to face Manny Pacquiao in 2012, but this is the quote that most caught me off-guard:

Mayweather vs Ortiz Live

“I don’t care about that,” the 24 year old former Kansan said. “I don’t pay attention to that. I am not one of those made champions. I didn’t get here by fighting tomato cans.

“I’m not one of those guys who were fed with a spoon like that. I have a lot of slaps in my face (from critics). This is a great chance for me.

“I plan on being a world champion for 15 years. I didn’t work so hard for this opportunity to let it a slip away,” Ortiz said.

“I am definitely going to beat Mayweather.”

It’s interesting (if predictable) that there’s a rematch clause, but I have to quibble that Ortiz wasn’t fed with a spoon. Let’s be completely serious here — Ortiz was fed exactly like a “made champion,” no matter what he says he believes. And he knows it, too. It’s not like they booked him against Marcos Maidana to give him a super tough fight or make Maidana into a star, even though that’s what happened. That fight was supposed to be a co-feature that became an HBO main event after another fight fell apart. Ortiz lost to Maidana by “accident,” like James Kirkland against Nobuhiro Ishida. Both were a function of bad reads by the matchmakers and an underestimation of Ishida and Maidana.

Even Ortiz’s comeback run was hand-picked beyond any doubt until they matched him with Berto, and yes, then Ortiz lived up to the hype. He himself did that. Victor Ortiz is, it appears, the fighter he was sold as being, and we all know by now that Maidana can really fight. But we’re six months away from Victor blowing a win against Lamont Peterson, too. He’s lucky to have the chance against Mayweather, even considering he earned it by beating Berto.

If you want to call this “hating” Ortiz then fine, great, but it’s just the reality of his career. He’s been spoon-fed like a great many other prospects and hyped stars. That he finally made it count doesn’t mean that that’s not the case. But if Victor Ortiz thinks his fights with Jeff Resto and Vivian Harris were tough matchmaking, then great for him.

Can Floyd Mayweather Jr versus Ortiz sell more PPVs than Pacquiao vs. Marquez 3

The war is on between boxing promotions Golden Boy and Top Rank as both companies are vying for PPV dominance in 2011 as their ‘golden tickets’ are set to fight within 8 weeks of each other. In September, Floyd Mayweather Jr. will fight Victor Ortiz under the Golden Boy banner and in November, Top Rank’s Manny Pacquiao will fight against his rival Juan Manuel Marquez. Both promotions declare record PPV buys and worldwide promotional campaigns for their respective fights. On Thursday, Top Rank Prmoter made the following PPV declaration for Pacquiao vs. Marquez 3, according to BoxingScene.com: “It will be a great fight, and we expect 1.6 million homes on pay-per-view.”

As I documented yesterday, 1.6 million PPVs would be Pacquiao’s best performance ever in PPV buys. However, Floyd Mayweather Jr. still holds 1/2 of the #1 ranked PPV of all-time which was his 2007 battle against Oscar De La Hoya. Their fight drew 2.4 million PPV buys which eclipsed the previous top two spots which were held by Mike Tyson.

On Friday, GBP CEO Richard Schaefer declared that the promotional campaign for Mayweather Jr. vs. Victor Ortiz will be the largest campaign ever. HBO will broadcast the fight on their PPV platform and the MGM Grand Garden Arena was just announced as the home for this fight on September 17th.

The MGM Grand Garden will also be the home for Pacquiao vs. Marquez 3 on November 12th. Bob Arum and Top Rank Promotions plan on doing a world-wide tour starting in Manila, Philippines and ending in Mexico City, Mexico with stops in New York, London and L.A. all in between.

The rival promotions each believe that their top fight will be the largest draw in Boxing this year in terms of PPV buys, ticket sales, and live gate. Pacquiao earned over 1.3 million PPV buys for his May 7th fight against Shane Mosley. It fell just short of Mayweather Jr’s last fight on May 1, 2010 which was also against Mosley. Floyd and Shane sold over 1.4 million PPVs.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is still the bigger PPV draw over Pacquiao, although the gap is now a small one. I don’t see his fight against Ortiz going past the 1.5 million PPV mark as Ortiz is not a big name, yet. Marquez is well known and his 3rd fight with Pacquiao could very well break the 1.5 million PPV mark as boxing fans are well aware of this historic rivalry. I give the slight edge to Pacquiao right now over Floyd for this PPV battle.

Mayweather vs Ortiz on September 17

Floyd Mayweather Jr. (41-0, 25KOs) announced to his 1.2 million followers on Twitter that he plans to return on September 17th to challenge the new WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz (29-2-2, 22KOs) of California. Ortiz, who moved up from junior welterweight, won the title in April with an impressive twelve round decision over previously undefeated Andre Berto.

The fight between Mayweather vs Ortiz Live fight had been rumored for weeks, although both camps continued to deny the negotiations. Mayweather has not fought since last May’s dominating decision win over “Sugar” Shane Mosley. Mayweather-Ortiz is a sure fight to land on HBO pay-per-view, and Las Vegas is the likely location to host – although Dallas, Texas is another rumored location.

Mayweather’s main rival, Manny Pacquiao, defends his WBO welterweight title against Juan Manuel Marquez in a trilogy bout on November 12.

“My fans have been waiting long enough. Floyd Mayweather vs. Victor Ortiz. Sept-17 2011 for the WBC World Championship,” Mayweather wrote on his Twitter page.