If this weekend’s Mayweather vs. Ortiz fight didn’t already have enough hype around it, Floyd Mayweather Jr. made sure to add fuel to the flames by inviting Victor Ortiz’s ex-trainer Robert Garcia.
via LA Times
“I saw Garcia at a fight at state line [Primm, Nev.] not too long ago. He asked to come to my next fight, and I said that’d be great,” Mayweather said. “I’m a man of my word.”
Especially when it’s this irritating to the opposition’s camp.
Not only did Ortiz drop Garcia as his trainer after a 2007 bout, claiming the trainer was “mean,” he hired Garcia’s brother, Danny, as his new trainer.
That created such a severe falling out in the Garcia family that Robert and Danny are not on speaking terms. It doesn’t help that their backyards in Oxnard butt up against each other.
Mayweather claimed Wednesday that Ortiz’s explanation that he was abandoned by his father at the age of 12 was “not true,” counting Robert Garcia and Internet reports as his “research.”
Ortiz insists his father was abusive and walked away after Ortiz’s mother quit parenting.
Contacted by telephone, Robert Garcia told The Times he’s heard from a former neighbor of the Ortiz family that Ortiz’s “dad never left him, was always there for him.”
On Wednesday, Ortiz gave Mayweather’s claims little attention, though Danny Garcia announced he “loves his brother” and expressed hope for a reunion someday soon. Robert Garcia said he agreed with that sentiment but first wanted Danny “to admit” he was wrong by not alerting the Garcia family to his intentions to replace Robert as Ortiz’s trainer.
Family drama is never good! We may see a side ring fight as the highlight this weekend thanks to Money Mayweather!