Floyd Mayweather announced earlier today on his Twitter account that he will return to the boxing ring on September 17, and his opponent will be WBC Welterweight titleholder “Vicious” Victor Ortiz. ESPN’s Dan Rafael tweeted that Ortiz’s manager confirmed the report.
↵Mayweather (41-0-0, 25 KOs) has been out of action since May 1, 2010, when he dismantled Shane Mosley in a 12-round unanimous decision. Before that fight, and certainly since then, the sports world has waited for Mayweather to get in the ring with pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao, but that of course remains a pipe dream. Certainly an active Mayweather opens the door for a Pacquiao showdown, but that’s forever down the road.
↵Ortiz (29-2-2, 22 KOs) was once lauded as a future star of the sport, a new Oscar de la Hoya with good looks and tons of potential. But his professional career has been a bit of a disappointment, and he hit a low point in a loss to Marcos Maidana in June of 2009 when he essentially quit on his stool. But he’s revived his career – and surely earned himself a huge payday against Mayweather – with a unanimous decision win over then-undefeated Andre Berto in a Fight of the Year candidate on April 16. That victory earned Ortiz the WBC Welterweight title, which he’ll defend against Mayweather. As of now, there is no confirmed venue for the fight, but it would be surprising to see Mayweather fight anywhere except Las Vegas; expect the fight to be at the MGM Grand.
↵We’ll have plenty more on this in the coming weeks as details develop.