By Chris Robinson
On Wednesday afternoon, I caught up with outspoken trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. inside of Johnny Tocco's Boxing Gym in Las Vegas.
Following up on a report by my colleague Richard Powell that Mayweather had been approached to trainer former welterweight champion Victor Ortiz, I decided to speak with Senior myself to get his thoughts on all the talk.
True enough, Ortiz and his camp have reached out to Senior about the possibility of them working together and he seems open to the idea.
“His manager told me that Oscar De La Hoya is the one that recommended me to Victor,” said Mayweather, who for several years trained De La Hoya, now president of Golden Boy Promotions, who promotes Ortiz.
“Oscar De La Hoya told him that would be the best thing as far as defense and offense,” Mayweather added.
Ortiz, 25, presently holds a 29-4-2 record with 22 knockouts. The highlight of his career is a thrilling decision victory over former champion Andre Berto in April of 2011 that netted him the WBC welterweight crown.
Ortiz would lose the belt one fight later as he was knocked out in the fourth round by Mayweather’s son Floyd Jr. and he is coming off of a June 23rd loss to Josesito Lopez in which he suffered two fractures on the right side of his jaw while choosing not to come out for the tenth round.
Despite still recovering from surgery for his broken jaw, Ortiz is going to be meeting up with Mayweather in the coming weeks in Las Vegas so that they can engage in a light workout, claims Floyd Sr.
As far as whether or not Mayweather would be willing to travel to Ortiz’s training bases in Ventura, California to work with the dangerous southpaw, he insists that money will be a big factor.
“Everything depends on how I’m getting paid, man,” said Mayweather. “I’m not going to leave where I am at already and go and get lesser money. I can’t do that. It’s what is best for me.”
Several insiders were expecting Ortiz to link up with Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach, but Mayweather’s words paint a different picture of what may be going on behind the scenes.
