Media Conference Call: Victor
Ortiz and Andre Berto
January 27, 2012
LOS ANGELES - Former World Champions
Victor Ortiz and Andre Berto participated in a media conference call on
January 24 to discuss their upcoming rematch of the 2011 "Fight of the
Year" on Saturday, Feb. 11, live on SHOWTIME (9 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on
the West Coast), from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.
Ten months after their classic slugfest that was named 2011 "Fight of
the Year" (USA Today, Ring Magazine), Ortiz (29-3-2, 22 KO's), of
Ventura, Calif., and Berto (28-1, 22 KO's), of Winter Haven, Fla., will
square off again. The eagerly awaited 12-round fight is a rematch of a
fiercely contested, multiple-knockdown affair on April 16, 2011 that
Ortiz won by a unanimous decision (114-112, 114-111 and 115-110) while
capturing Berto's World Boxing Council (WBC) 147-pound title. Both
fighters were knocked down twice in the fight, with Berto being dropped
in the first, Ortiz going down a round later and each of them hitting
the deck in a wild sixth round that many called the "Round of the Year"
for 2011.
Here's what the participants had to say on Wednesday's call:
VICTOR ORTIZ: "Once again, I'm counted out by Berto's team. To me it's
perfectly fine. I don't care. I'm going to show him why I beat him the
first time. It's Berto's second chance, not mine. What do I lose?
Nothing. At the end of the day it's going to be a great fight. Berto is
a good fighter, but I never saw him as great, not even when I was at 140
and I was coming up to challenge him, which is why I challenged him.
Don't get me wrong, he's a dangerous fighter but I don't fear him. I
have no respect for him, I'm not scared of him, nothing like that. At
the end of the day I will win this once again."
How have things changed since the first fight against Ortiz?
VICTOR ORTIZ: "I've been working hard and keeping it positive. There are
no worries in the world right about now, and Berto is certainly not one
of them. At the same time I know I have to be tremendously tough for
this guy, both in and out of the ring. I'm not a guy who has to sit
there and run his mouth. The thing is, at the end of the day, the boxing
gloves will do the talking. Apparently Berto has a chip on his shoulder.
Well I have a few chips on my shoulder due to the first Berto fight. It
didn't end the way I wanted it to end and my last fight wasn't the
greatest, so my roller coaster is re-launching right now. I want to
climax. I'm nowhere near ready to pull back. Not now or in the near
future. It's going to be a great fight, I will be victorious once again
and I will not take no for an answer."
When you fought Andre could you sense that he was wearing down
physically in the end of the fight?
VICTOR ORTIZ: "No, not at all. It was the same Berto I trained for,
actually better. The only difference was there was a beast in there with
him."
What do you need to do to match his improved strength in the ring?
VICTOR ORTIZ: "Once again it comes back that I'm the underdog. That's
the story of my life. I don't really mind it one bit. At the same time,
let's not forget that I was a 140-pounder in the first fight. Now, I'm a
natural 147."
Victor, you say you're always an underdog. Is the scrutiny fair?
VICTOR ORTIZ: "It's the game. I'm just here. I'm just here to live
another day and become one of the greatest boxers of all time. Obviously
people go through their ups and downs, but I'm having fun and I'm
enjoying every moment of going through my ups and downs. At the end of
the day, I'm just trying to be one of the greats."
Do you like being the underdog?
"No way, man. Not one bit. That's good though. I enjoy being that person
that's always counted out."
Why do you think people count you out after you won the first
fight?
VICTOR ORTIZ: "I don't know. That's my only question. At the end of the
day I don't really care what anybody believes but me. I'm ready for this
guy once again."
What is your point of view of having a fight of this caliber that
isn't a title fight?
VICTOR ORTIZ: "I don't mind it. Given the circumstances that this guy
wants to fight me, I am more than willing to give him a shot. Why not?
He gave me a shot."
What do you expect different in the ring from Berto?
VICTOR ORTIZ: "I don't really know, but I'm preparing for the best Berto
there is possible along with my corner. If he's gotten any better than,
hey, that's awesome. That's what we're expecting. We're expecting the
best Berto to be present and I'm ready."
How's your mental state of mind coming off a loss to Mayweather?
VICTOR ORTIZ: "I still believe in myself. I still see myself as a world
champion.
ANDRE BERTO: "We've already had a tremendous camp and right now we're
going through the motions every day. We're excited about Feb. 11 and
getting to Vegas for a fight of this magnitude. It's going to be go
time."
How important was it for you to get back in the ring and beat Jan
Zaveck the way that you did?
ANDRE BERTO: "I think it was tremendously important after you go through
the situations that I went through not to dwell on it for too long but
to just jump back in action, and that's what I did. I just wanted to
take a little time off and put this fight together for me and I jumped
right back into action."
Did you get a lot of confidence from that?
ANDRE BERTO: "It definitely helped, but at the end of the day I know I
can fight. If I had a bad night or if you have a bad day at the gym, at
the end of the day you know you're going to be able to know how to
fight."
What's the most important thing Tony Morgan has done for your
career since you started working with him?
ANDRE BERTO: "Me and Tony are pretty much like family. We started in
this game together when I was like 10, 11 years old. It's just been our
dream to win a world title and to be at any type level of this fight
game. He taught me a lot about loyalty, he taught me a lot about family.
We had a lot of big dreams, but then again we never really thought that
we'd get to this point coming from such a small town that we came from."
How did losing the first fight of your career affect your psyche?
Did it have a major effect on you?
ANDRE BERTO: "Of course. It played with my mind a bit. You get to a
point where I think any fighter would be affected by that, but you just
brush it off, get back on your feet and get back in there and that's
what I did."
Did it take another fight to build up that confidence?
ANDRE BERTO: "No. In my last fight I went in there like nothing
happened. I went in there and went straight to work like nothing
happened at all. At the end of the day, you like to be realistic. That
loss put a lot of different things in perspective. It made me get back
and work hard and made me understand what kind of team and what type of
family I have around me. They were very supportive. If I'm in this
boxing thing or not, I still have that love from my family and my
friends. Like I said, I have that support so I'm good."
You seemed a little bit tired in that first fight [against Ortiz].
Is that true and is that something you've been working on since then?
ANDRE BERTO: "Of course. I believe when we trained for that fight I
don't think we trained like we were supposed to. I believe that's
something that fighters go through. You get in a situation where you
have a lot of success and you stay in your own little circle, your own
little box instead of trying to look out and find the best situations
for you. I think I suffer from that because after that fight I found out
I was anemic and I had to really reach out to find some help with that
because it got to be pretty serious. I learned I needed to take a lot
better care of my body."
Do you feel that you're past that and you'll be in a lot better
condition for this fight?
ANDRE BERTO: "Of course. We're working hard and having our doctors
checking on me to make sure my levels are up and making sure I'm getting
all my vitamins that I need to continue to push to have the best
training sessions. Before, we were so old school in everything. We
didn't take vitamins or protein shakes or none of that, it was just hard
work, but anybody knows that if you're a world-class athlete you have to
train and you have to take care of your body like you are a world-class
athlete. That's something that we're really getting into, and we're
trying to take all the right precautions now."
You had stated after the [first] fight that maybe Ortiz was on
some illegal substance and then you backed off. Is that something you
still believe?
ANDRE BERTO: "No. Ortiz was just better that night."
LOU DIBELLA: "That's also not going to be an issue in this fight as both
fighters agreed to drug testing and there will be drug testing on this
fight and it's not going to be an issue for anybody. Both sides have to
go out there and do the right thing and both agreed to testing. I think
that's a big step to take away some of the innuendo and the problems
that do exist in our sport. But all you can ask the fighters to do is
say 'okay, I'll be tested,' and that's what these two fighters have
done."
When will the drug testing start?
ANDRE BERTO: "They've already tested me twice for this fight -- urine
tests and blood tests."
How was that for you?
ANDRE BERTO: "It was different, but I went through that as an amateur so
it wasn't something completely different."
Andre, you know that Victor had to go in front of the Nevada State
Athletic Commission for his actions against Floyd Mayweather. Do you see
it as an issue or advantage for you?
ANDRE BERTO: "I'm not sure. I'm a clean guy when I'm in there. We just
want to make sure our team watches out for any type of incidental
situations."
Are you bummed out that there is no fight at stake in this bout?
ANDRE BERTO: "Probably a little bit, but like I said, right now I'm just
trying to make good fights. I've won two titles now and I'm just
resorting back to why I fell in love with this sport, (and getting) back
to the basics. This fight right here is a fight that I wanted, a fight
that the people wanted. It's going to be an exciting one and that's the
only thing that I'm worried about"
What does it say about you that you'll take a fight of this
magnitude?
ANDRE BERTO: "It says a lot about both of us. You see a kid go through a
lot of success, but then again go through a lot of criticism and a lot
of hate. On both sides I believe. To lose your first fight and come back
and win another world title and give it up to hopefully make another
exciting fight. The same thing for Ortiz - he came off a loss against
Floyd, he ended up getting knocked out, but he overcame that and came
back to fight another exciting fight. It shows where we come from. It's
in my heart, it's in my passion to just put on exciting fights. When
we're done with our careers I don't believe we'll have any regrets."
Is this a better chance for you or Ortiz?
ANDRE BERTO: "I think it's a good fight for both of us. I lost the fight
and came back and won a world title. I could have gone a different route
but I wanted to take this one. Ortiz lost to Mayweather. Either way you
look at it, you're putting together two young guys that love to fight
and put on an exciting show."
How have things changed since the first fight against Ortiz?
ANDRE BERTO: "A lot of things. We're definitely a lot smarter, we
definitely matured a lot more. We had a chance to put a lot of different
things in perspective, not just in my boxing career, but in life in
general. So I think it definitely helped me for the better."
Published on WBAN. We cover women's boxing and men's boxing.
