VICTOR ORTIZ, the former WBC world welterweight champion, has been charged with raping a woman inside a home in March.
The 31-year-old turned himself in to Ventura County Sheriffs yesterday (September 25), according to police in Oxnard, California. They said the district attorney filed charges after a prolonged investigation and Ortiz surrendered after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
He was eventually released after a $100,000 bail was posted but faces charges of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation and forcible digital penetration when he appears in court on October 10.
Ortiz, famous for being sucker-punched and knocked out by Floyd Mayweather in a WBC welterweight title fight in 2011, is scheduled to fight John Molina on Sunday (September 30) in Ontario, California. His pro boxing record stands at 32-6-3 (25), but it’s a record of a different kind that will be of greater concern to Ortiz at this stage.
It seems 43-year-old Sergio Martinez is willing to ignore a career-ending knee injury, as well as the finer details of a lopsided 12-round decision in 2012, for the purpose of making money in a rematch against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr on November 17 in Texas (where else?).
Considered a joke at first, nothing more than a tease, the social media back and forth between Martinez and Chavez Jr has apparently been firmed up with actual discussions and now, six years on from their first encounter, it appears the two are likely to do it all over again.
“It’s a surprise, the negotiations are really very strong,” Julio Cesar Chavez Sr told ESPN Deportes. “I thought it was a joke about Maravilla Martinez, but it seems to be a fact. I know that many people will not like it, but they will see November 17.”
Rumoured to land on streaming service DAZN, Martinez vs. Chavez II is unquestionably the rematch nobody wants, much less needs, but will presumably make both fighters plenty of money regardless. Their previous fight was dominated by Martinez for 11 rounds before Chavez Jr, thrashed on the cards, pulled out a last round salvo to drop and nearly stop the Argentine. It added drama and tension to an otherwise predictable affair. What it didn’t do, however, was provide enough evidence to suggest a rematch should take place – not immediately, and certainly not six years later.
Inactive since 2014, Martinez was last seen falling apart physically in a WBC middleweight title fight against Miguel Cotto. He was dropped three times in the first round and then once more in round nine. He battled bravely to reach round 10 but was saved thereafter.
Chavez Jr, meanwhile, was handed a 12-round boxing lesson by fellow Mexican Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in May last year and has yet to rebound from the drubbing. Presumably waiting for the right fight, a date in Texas against the retired 43-year-old version of the man who schooled him six years ago is, I guess, just the ticket.
