“Vicious” Victor Ortiz surprised the world when he was arrested yesterday after a woman told authorities he sexually assaulted her at a home in Oxnard, California according to police.
The woman’s report came the afternoon of March 19. Ortiz, who lives in Tarzana, CA, which is 40 miles west of Oxnard, turned himself in on Tuesday and was booked at the East County Jail in Ventura County.
His bail is $100,000.
The 31-year-old pugilist is charged with forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, and forcible digital penetration, according to Oxnard police.
Authorities issued an arrest warrant for Ortiz (32-6-3) after a months-long investigation by its family protection unit, a police statement said.
The arrest is not the boxer’s first encounter with the law. According to the Ventura County Star and other media outlets, he was arrested in September 2016 after being pulled over with a 0.15 blood alcohol content. He pleaded guilty last year and was put on probation for three months, the Star reported.
In July 2015, he was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after being accused of beating up a fan at a country music concert in Pasadena, according to the newspaper. Ortiz pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery and was sentenced to three years’ probation.
The Garden City, Kansas, native became a pro boxer at 17 and made his name as a light welterweight before moving up to the welterweight class. He briefly held the coveted WBC welterweight title in 2011 until his controversial fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr resulted in the most debated “sucker punch” in history. In that bout, Ortiz head-butted Mayweather, and Mayweather landed two punches while Ortiz’s hands were down, knocking him out in the fourth round.
Having only tallied three losses in his career up to that point, Ortiz lost three of his next seven fights and most recently fought to a draw against Devon Alexander in February. Ortiz is currently scheduled to fight this Sunday in a bout against the hard-hitting John Molina, Jr. in Ontario, California. Ortiz has appeared on the big and small screens. He had roles in the movies “The Expendables” and “Southpaw,” and most recently on the Showtime show “Ray Donovan.” In 2013, he joined “Dancing With the Stars,” where he was booted by judges and viewers after a lackluster performance in week six.
Outside of the famous domestic violence case that sent Floyd “Money Mayweather to jail, boxing has been pretty quiet during the “Me Too” movement with domestic violence cases in MMA skyrocketing. When MMA fighter Jon “War Machine” Koppenhaver was sentenced to life in a Nevada prison after the rape and violence he inflicted upon then girlfriend Christy Mack, the world realized that combat sports athletes have a problem on their hands.
Only time will reveal if boxing is also privy to this level of violence or if the incident is isolated.
