By John F. McKenna (McJack): World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight champion Victor Ortiz (29-2-2, 22 KO’s) who faces former Pound for Pound (P4P) king Floyd Mayweather at the MGM Grand on September 17 is brimming over with confidence.

“Vicious” as Ortiz is known to his fans, is downplaying the recent rumors that he had suffered a back injury. In an interview with RingTV.com Ortiz said that had nothing more than a little bit of pain in his back and took a day off from training at the advice of his trainer Danny Garcia.

Ortiz insisted that he needed a break after he had pushed himself to the limit during the two months of training he has already put in for the Mayweather fight.

Ortiz is putting in the most strenuous training camp of his career for what undoubtedly will be his toughest fight. “Vicious” is not bothered by the odds makers who have placed him as an 8 to 1 underdog against Mayweather. Ortiz exudes a great deal of confidence in the outcome of his match against Floyd and his public statements reflect that.

Ortiz was quoted as saying “I’ve been in training camp for two months already because I realize that fighting Floyd Mayweather is a big fight. But he doesn’t scare me at all. Not for a second. So, yeah, I took my day off, and today is another day of training. So far as that goes, nothing’s changed. Nothing’s going on and Mayweather’s going down.”

Those statements would seem to indicate that “Vicious” is supremely confident of defeating “Money” Mayweather. But then again we have heard those kinds of statements from underdogs in a huge fight before. Just six weeks ago Davie Haye was issuing statements to the press in which he assured everyone that he was about to destroy the heavily favored Vladimir Klitschko in their heavyweight championship match. Haye went so far as to say that he would leave Vladimir whimpering on the floor. Haye was so good at it that he was favored in England.

In retrospect we all know how that fight turned out. Many times when fighters issue bold statements to the press in the lead up to a fight you get the impression that they are not only trying to convince fans but also themselves. Ortiz has a difficult task in front of him on Septembers 17. Mayweather is a defensive genius in the ring and he will attempt to frustrate his less experienced opponent. Hopefully Ortiz is up to the challenge.