By Eric Thomas: WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz (29-2-2, 23 KOs) is looking to cash in on his recent 12 round unanimous decision win over Andre Berto by trying to get a big fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Manny Pacquiao. Those are the two top names that the young 24-year-old Ortiz wants right now. If not them, then there is a possibility that he’ll have to settle for his mandatory challenger Selcuk Aydin (21-0, 16 KO’s), who has been waiting for a title shot against Berto for quite some time.
Realistically, Ortiz’s chances of getting a fight with either Mayweather or Pacquiao are about slim and none. Ortiz isn’t a big enough name right now to get either of them interested and there is the question of him fighting for a different promoter than Pacquiao. Besides that, Ortiz might be a little too big for Pacquiao. Ortiz is about as big as Antonio Margarito in terms of weight and looks to be a stronger and faster puncher. Pacquiao’s management might not like the idea of putting him in with a young powerhouse like Ortiz and risk Pacquiao getting hurt in the process.
Rolando Arellano, the manager for Ortiz, said this about fighting Aydin at ringtv,craveonline.com: “We might want to do that. He’s been the mandatory for like 14 months. We know exactly how it feels to be the No 1 contender and having to wait. So that’s a possibility. The bottom line is that money will dictate our decision. Vic is really, really marketable right now.”
HBO might not want to show Ortiz vs. Aydin, because of the lack of interest in casual boxing fans seeing the little known Turkish fighter. The problem is that most of Aydin’s fights have taken place in Germany and Turkey. The one time that Aydin was shown on U.S. television n a bout against Said Ouali in 2009, Aydin looked terrible in barely beating Ouali by a 12 round decision. Ortiz would likely easily beat Aydin but what’s the point in fighting him if HBO isn’t interested in showing the fight?
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