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In an interview with our friend Corey Erdman of The Score that I highly recommend you read in full and not just take the snippet here as the whole story, Brandon Rios says that Victor Ortiz's backstory and life story is fake, and part of a carefully-crafted public image, while he knows the real Victor Ortiz.
Rios, who has been invited to Mayweather vs Ortiz tomorrow by Mayweather himself, says that he and trainer Robert Garcia have both dealt with "the real" Ortiz, who has allegedly sent thugs after both of them, spread false rumors, and generally not been the mild-mannered, laid-back, carefree surfer boy fighting the odds that he's marketed as being by HBO and Golden Boy.
Now of course this is just Brandon Rios' side of things, too. It's basically he-said, she-said, but with no she, and two hes, so he-said, he-said. Their personal rivalry is legitimate. It's very real. These guys are not going to be friendly again any time soon.
But since Floyd Mayweather Jr openly questioned Ortiz's backstory at the final press conference for the bout this week, here's what Rios has to say about that:
"That’s ****in’ fake. That’s just a fantasy land that he’s living in. He was never in foster care. ... His Dad is still there, his Dad loves him. Look at it from the first interview where he tells the story, it always changes. It changes all the time. This guy’s lived the life of three people already, three lifetimes. What the ****? The way he’s talking about the way he lived at eight years old. That’s insane. That’s ****ing insanity right there."
Rios and Garcia have spoken about this in the past, which I assumed earlier this week is where Floyd got his theories, his desire to bring it up. Mostly mind games, but perhaps an even more effective mind game if Ortiz believes Mayweather to legitimately be in touch with Rios and Garcia.
Rios does say that he won't walk to the ring with Mayweather on Saturday.
You can make of all this what you will, but since the Floyd thing did really bug some people the other day, I thought it was important to note that Mayweather wasn't just making it up out of thin air on the spot. Look, there are a lot of people in and around boxing that don't totally buy into Ortiz. For one thing, he's had some inconsistencies in his story. For another thing, it's so "Hollywood underdog story" that you can't . I'm not saying that people who doubt it are right. I'm just saying there are people who doubt it, legitimately.
Again: Make of it what you will. That's up to you. It's two sides of a story and it's word against word.
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