By Chris Robinson
During Wednesday's open media workout for this Friday’s ShoBox card headlined by a lightweight battle between Sharif Bogere and Francisco Contreras, I spotted Joseph ‘Hoss’ Janik, strength and conditioning coach for former champion Victor Ortiz. Janik also trains a few fighters himself, including twice-beaten junior middleweight prospect Francisco Santana, who faces off with unbeaten Jermell Charlo in a co-feature to the Bogere-Contreras scrap.
Janik was in the spotlight a bit this past month as he was chronicled on HBO’s 24/7 Mayweather-Ortiz series that took a look into the two fighters’ camps leading into the fight. In a scene that has been well-documented, Ortiz would end up losing to Mayweather by way of a shocking fourth round knockout after absorbing a left-right combination that came out of the blue and had him on the deck.
Prior to that, the fight appeared to be heating up when Ortiz blatantly head-butted Mayweather along the ropes, an act that resulted in a point deduction from referee Joe Cortez. Ortiz would then offer his apologies to Mayweather as he embraced him in the center of the ring before being caught with the infamous punches from Floyd that he claims were cheap shots.
Reflecting on the bout's ending a few weeks’ later, Janik still considers it a petty win for Floyd.
"The fight was going pretty much as we planned," Janik stated. "We had figured we were going to probably fall behind a little bit early, in the first five or six rounds, lose at least half of them. Floyd was going to be trying to find his rhythm and we were working on getting on the inside. For a fight to end like that, I think it leaves a bad taste in everybody’s mouth. Whether you consider it legal or not, I think it was a cheap way to win a fight.”
Janik has been keeping tabs with Ortiz and the 24-year-old may be a bit burned, but at the end of the day he was able to take in a valuable lesson.
“He’s upset. He feels like his kindness was taken advantage of. But I think there’s a lesson learned. Sportsmanship can only go so far and I think he learned that lesson the hardest way possible,” Janik added.
Janik was then asked if he felt Ortiz should take a tune up fight or return to face a high-profile name. Interestingly, Janik now has his eyes on WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, a man long-since looked at as a great rival to Mayweather while currently being in line to defend his title against Juan Manuel Marquez on November 12th.
“I don’t think Pacquiao and Mayweather are ever going to be able to come to terms because Mayweather dictates too much how he wants stuff to go. I don’t think that one is going to happen. Freddie is a good friend of mine, Manny is a good friend of mine, I’d like to see that fight happen after the Marquez fight, Pacquiao-Ortiz.”
[Reader's note: For more coverage from the Mayweather-Ortiz event, please visit the following slideshows... Behind the scenes at the wild 'Star Power' event / Mayweather's fiance' hits up the fight with 50 Cent's girlfriend / A ringside view of Mayweather vs. Ortiz ]
Chris Robinson is based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. He can be reached at Trimond@aol.com
