Victor Ortiz recalls Mike Tyson’s advice for Floyd Mayweather bout ahead of bare-knuckle return

Victor Ortiz will make his return to the ring on July 18 at BKB 56.

Ahead of his next bout, Ortiz shared his thoughts on the news surrounding Floyd Mayweather and his various delayed or cancelled fights.

The 2 men shared the ring in a controversial WBC welterweight title fight that took place back in 2011.

When reflecting on this fight and explaining why a rematch never happened, Ortiz recalled a conversation that he had with Mike Tyson.

Victor Ortiz reflects on why he never got the Floyd Mayweather rematch that his rival promised

Victor Ortiz had a tricky begin to his title fight with Floyd Mayweather in 2011 before finding some success within the fourth round.

His aggression led to him headbutting ‘Money’, which then resulted within the highly controversial finish when Mayweather hurt his opponent while he wasn’t looking following the fight being paused.

Ortiz delivered his Mike Tyson impression when recalling how the heavyweight legend advised him to approach the fight.

“Mike Tyson said it,” he reflected. “‘Victor, you’ve got to make it a dog fight, Victor.’”

Earlier this month, a brand new date for the bout between Mayweather and Tyson was suggested, though nothing has been made official yet.

Meanwhile, Ortiz is about to face Dominic Salcido when he makes his BKB bare-knuckle debut on July 18.

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Ortiz believes that his aggressive approach is the explanation a rematch never materialized.

Mayweather said contained in the ring that night in Nevada that he would run it back with Ortiz following an outraged crowd on the MGM Grand Garden Arena as a result of the finish.

“There’s things that happen in a person’s mind, right? It’s things it’s best to do and stuff you shouldn’t do,” Ortiz said. “If you sit behind closed doors and you have got to reflect, you have got to think, ‘Man, if I get within the ring with Victor Ortiz, that guy’s going to knock me out.’

“The simplest way of neglecting that’s staying away from any person like me, so he did. When you consider it if you grow old and also you get wiser, why would he put himself in harm’s way with me? I wouldn’t. I’m the form of individual that’s a number of risk, low reward for him. For me, it’s low risk, high reward. So, you bought to play it smart, man.”