Both Victor Ortiz and Brandon Rios have had rough patches in the last few years of their professional careers, and both men have been itching to fight each other. It looks like their wishes will come true.
No official announcement of a fight has been made, but Rios did call out and challenge. The former WBC welterweight champion accepted the fight via a video from Fighthype.com.
"Fans want it. They have been asking it for years," Ortiz said. "Brandon Rios, bring it baby. Let's get them contracts going. Al Haymon, let's make it happen."
Rios delivered the favor with a video on his own, saying that he is going to personally call promoter Al Haymon to try and make the fight a reality.
"About time that motherfucker called me out," Rios said. "All these years, he's been hiding, he's been ducking, he's been whatever. He's saying that I'm scared. That's why I'm going to Al Haymon and get that fight. I want that fight. We got to make that happen now."
Both men were once welterweight champions, but were unable to defend their titles for long periods of time. After Rios defeated Mike Alvarado in January 2015 won the vacant WBO International welterweight title, he then lost to Timothy Bradley last November with the WBO welterweight world title on the line. Rios has lost 3 of his last 5 fights.
Ortiz lost his WBC welterweight title in his first ever defense against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2011. Ortiz has lost 4 of his last 6 fights.
