It says a lot about the state of boxing and society that someone can attempt to discredit a rival by claiming his opponent had a stable family life and a father who loved him.
Floyd Mayweather Jr., the undefeated welterweight who takes on Victor Ortiz on pay-per-view on Saturday, rolled out the old “street cred” nonsense this week when he conducted “research” that he claimed found that Ortiz’s father never abandoned Ortiz as a child.
Ortiz, 24, has told many reporters through the years that his mother left him, his two siblings and his father when Ortiz was 7 years old. A short time later, after forcing his son into boxing, Ortiz’s abusive, alcoholic father abandoned his children, according to reports.
His parents’ leaving him and his siblings motivated Ortiz to succeed in boxing, Ortiz has said.
Mayweather — whose relationship with his own father is, um, interesting — wants to dispel these “myths.” The 34-year-old has invited Ortiz’s father and former trainer, Robert Garcia, to sit ringside Saturday. It’s an attempt to get in Ortiz’s head and to refute Ortiz’s claims that he didn’t have a happy childhood.
According to the L.A. Times, Mayweather heard from Garcia, who heard from Ortiz’s father’s former neighbor, that Ortiz’s “dad never left him, was always there for him.”
Take a moment to follow that line of sourcing before we move on.
Ready? OK.
What we have here is a rising star claiming his early life was a mess, and a legend saying it wasn’t. How does this affect what will happen in the ring? Not at all, of course. This is the state of boxing, though; the “broken home” storyline is virtually a requirement to garner any credibility in this sport. Claiming an opponent’s father “never left him” is a way to undermine his worthiness as a fighter.
If Ortiz pulls off the upset Saturday, hopefully his dad — if he attends — won’t rush up on stage to hug him and tell him he loves him. That would be disastrous. Ortiz’s boxing career probably would never recover.
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