By Steve Carp, LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Floyd Mayweather Jr. will fight Victor Ortiz in his return to the ring, but on Tuesday he found himself looking into the future -- and a highly anticipated date with Manny Pacquiao.
As the promotion began for his Sept. 17 fight against Ortiz at the MGM Grand Garden, Mayweather (41-0, 25 knockouts) wanted to set the record straight -- at least from his perspective -- about where he stands with Pacquiao.
"I never said Manny Pacquiao is cheating," Mayweather said Tuesday from New York, where the two-city promotional tour kicked off. Mayweather and Ortiz will be in Los Angeles today.
"I never discredited Manny Pacquiao. I'm not taking anything away from him. All I said is we should take the (Olympic-style drug) tests. If you want to beat me, I want you to earn it. Just take the test.
"Do I want the Pacquiao fight? Absolutely. But it's one step at a time, and I can't overlook Victor Ortiz. He's the world champion."
Ortiz (29-2-2, 22 KOs) has the WBC welterweight title,
Mayweather is being sued by Pacquiao for defamation after Mayweather allegedly made claims in 2009 that Pacquiao used steroids to help launch his rise to the top as boxing's best pound-for-pound fighter. Over the past two years, there have been two attempts to put the two in the ring, and both tries have failed.
Ortiz said he knows Mayweather will dominate the headlines up until fight night, whether it's talk about Pacquiao, Mayweather's return to boxing from a 16-month hiatus or his myriad troubles outside the ring.
"I'm the one with the belt," Ortiz said. "I knew when I was 9 years old that I would one day be the world welterweight champion, and I plan to be the champ for a long time. If (Neil) Armstrong can go to the moon, why can't I hold on to my belt for 15 years?"
Ortiz, 24, is coming off a sensational win over Andre Berto on April 16, when he survived a sixth-round knockdown to knock down Berto later in the round and win the WBC belt by unanimous decision. He said the win proved to him that he had a warrior's spirit, and he refused to listen to critics who said he didn't have the heart to be a champion.
"I never paid any attention to that," Ortiz said. "I always stayed true to myself."
Mayweather was ringside that night. He was impressed with Ortiz and decided he would be a worthy opponent in his return to the ring.
"This is not my last fight," said the 34-year-old Mayweather, who last fought May 1, 2010, when he beat Shane Mosley.
Mayweather opened as a minus-750 favorite over Ortiz (plus-525) at the MGM's sports book.
"I'm going to stay active, and I'd like to give you 10 more fights," Mayweather said. "But I don't know if I can do that, since I'm closer to 40 than to 21. But I'm going to go to camp and dedicate myself and push myself to the limit. I look forward to going out there and bringing the pressure.
"I deserve to be where I'm at. What other athlete has done it 15 years straight without a loss?"
HBO announced Tuesday that the first installment of the reality TV series "24/7 Mayweather/Ortiz" will debut Aug. 27, with successive installments on Sept. 3, 10 and 16.
Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter @stevecarprj.
Source: lvrj.com
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