Fresh Off His Bare Knuckle Win | Victor Ortiz | Coffeez with Joe Shalaby Ep. 309

Coffeez with Joe Shalaby

Victor Ortiz, former WBC champion and now bare-knuckle boxing contender, shares his transformative journey from foster care in Kansas to world stardom, emphasizing faith, resilience, and redemption. He details his 3 a.m.

Key takeaways

• Victor Ortiz woke up at 3 a.m. daily since childhood, inspired by mentor Bucky Avila’s mantra: 'If you're on time, you're late.'

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) One, two. Melissa. Nice to meet you. So nice to meet you. What can I grab? I'm up for a coffee, just a black coffee on ice. No, what about cream sugar? No, no, no, no. I'm kind of, I'm trying to watch my physique a little bit. Watch your physique? Okay, come on now. Okay, well, can you please have some chocolate? I saw the chocolate. I saw, you know what? Take some. No, no, no, no, I can't. Why? I have some. You're watching that thick. The truth is, I'm a boxer. I'm very, you know, big in the athletic. You know, big in the athletic scene, so just trying to cut some pounds. Okay. Prior engagement. So, yeah. Prior engagement. Tell me about it. What do you have coming up? So I grab a box of strawberries and a box of all kinds of different veggies. And I just put them from here to there, here to there. Yeah. Just, you know, just box them up. And that's the kind of box. You're confusing me, Victor. I don't know what you're talking about. What are you doing? All right. Cheers. Cheers. Boom. Boom. Yeah, let me take you over here to Joe. Come on over. Joe, we have Victor. Hey, Joe. How are you, brother? Thank you so much for coming, bro. Oh, it's a pleasure. Thank you for having me. What's up, everybody? Welcome to a special episode of coffees. I'm your host, Joe Shelby. I'm so honored to be sitting down with former champion. Please welcome the one, the only, Victor. Oh, thank you, my brother. Appreciate it. All right, Victor. I like to start my show off with the same question. And this is awesome to hear from someone like you. What's your morning routine? Man, morning routine actually, it's surprising to many, right? I wake up at 3 in the morning every day. Every day? Every day. What if you're stepped at 11? You know, I've just, it's not, I don't know, for some reason my clock is just there. Conditioned. Three in the morning, I don't know, since I was a kid, you know, so 3 a.m. Sometimes I do 3.3, just a weird thing of buying or different. And from there, I start with Bible study on my own. I know it's a little different than many. and then from Bible study, it's my run. So my run comes in about 5 a.m. It's still dark out. How many miles are you running? I do seven to eight miles, just a typical seven to eight every day. Just, I don't know. It keeps me feeling good. Nice. Just a seven to eight mile run. And then you start training. Yeah, I'll take about two hours and then I'll go to the gym. So my first training session is 10 a.m. 10, 10, 11, once in a while. I like to just be in the gym early, you know. And, well, depends on my coaches, because sometimes my coach likes to sleep in. Sorry, coach. Nobody's going to work as hard as you, bro. Well, when I was a kid, I had a boxing coach named Ignacio Avila. We called him Bucky. He was known by Bucky. So when I fight, you see my trunk say Bucky. Bucky said, Jr., if you're on time, you're late. and the early bird gets the worm. So that gentleman, may rest in peace, is who led me to three in the morning always. And just growing up with no parents, that just kind of instilled in me. And he said, no one's working harder than you, junior. If they're waking up, if you're sleeping in, you know, they're working more than you. So it just kind of stuck with me, and I just run with it, you know. I don't really wait for no one. And if you're going to say, oh, yeah, I'm going to join you at three in the morning. If it's 255, you're late. You know, I have no time. I'm just stretching out. I'm doing my thing already. Timeless words of wisdom, man. That's powerful. That was all from Bucky Abilah, man. I mean, that was my dad, my grandpa, my mentor, my boxing coach, my disciplinarian. He was a two-time Purple Heart in the Army, veteran, and he was a boxer in the 30s as well. So it's crazy. Your story's crazy, you know, from foster care to world champion. in. Yeah. And you went through just a ton of hardship. And we talked about, you know, your rise from all the various hardships. I mean, from what happened to you with raising your brother to, you know, various convictions right before fight. I mean, your story is just crazy. But at the end of it, you're triumphant. You're a man of God. You're a man of honor. And, you know, it's something that's so inspirational. I think the audience is going to love to hear your story. and I hope it's, you know, it's no holds bar today. You go all in. No problem. So let's start with what do you really excited about right now? What is Victor Ortiz waking up at 3 in the morning and excited to dominate the day for? Another day that God has given me, man, realistically. That's my go-to, followed by my children. You know, and far from now when boxing's over, I don't want to be remembered as the, oh, the greatest world champion, that this and that. No, it's a great dad. A God-fearing man. That's what I'm looking forward to. But at this very particular time, my fight that's coming, man. And I've been working extra. I know the gentleman that I'm fighting, I know he's no walk in the park. I understand that. I know what I signed up for. But that makes two of us. And I don't think he thinks you're a walk in the park either. Yeah? Well, words at times tend to carry weight. I know what I say carries weight. and I don't go out there to say something that I don't mean. You know, I think some things were said, misinterpreted maybe. But whatever the case may be, I'm ready. You know, I train a little bit of boxing, and we boxed with big gold gloves. You know, it's like, what is the difference between regular training and boxing and bare-knuckle training? You know, there's quite a bit of difference, man. I'll tell you this much, I've been boxing since I was seven years old, right? I've been boxing since I was seven years old. I'm 39 now. But from seven to just this past year, right? I've, you know, I protect my hands. I've broken my hands when I fought and obviously training. But this time around, it's like I got, I got calluses now from training without gloves. And man, that hurts. I never understood, like, realistically how much it would hurt without gloves. It really hurts. Like, every punch. But then you think about it, and it's like, you know what? Every punch that comes out of me is dedicated to my children and to my wife. Just to, hey, I'm paying the dues, you know? Slowly but surely, daily. God bless the fight. I don't recommend it. No. I just saw my first bare-knuckle fight, and it's crazy. I mean, it's the craziest of all combat sports. Yeah, it's definitely different. You know, I believe if I wasn't a God-fearing man, I'd probably be really scared. But at this point in time, I'm reassured I'm okay. What's your biggest fear going into that ring right now? At this point in time, there is no fear, realistically. But then again, I can recapitalize on a couple things. I mean, just kind of thinking of, oh, well, you might get cut. You might break a hand. You could definitely put a... plethora of thought and things, but no, you just got to know that you've worked hard. You've paid your dues and you're here. You're present. So what does this new life of success look like to you as a father, as a husband, as a servant of the Lord? You know, it means a lot. It's definitely not the same. Once upon a time, I lived worldly. I did everything worldly. At this point in time, I have a congregation that stands behind me at New Life of Oxnard, along with a pastor's Steve Abraham. And man, those are some beautiful people, beautiful folks, you know. They spread the gospel like me, except way better. You would be surprised how much you're spreading the gospel right now, the way you carry yourself, and really the way you just speak joy. You know, like you've went through hell and back, and guess what? You're triumphant. You're joyful. Well, you know, I've read along the lines and I've seen and I've witnessed, right? You have to live by the fruits of the spirit. Now, I don't have them by memory. It's like 12 or 13 or maybe more. I don't know. I don't know. See, maybe I'm wrong. I don't know. It's a lot to remember. And mind you, I love, joy, peace. Yeah, peace, happiness, patience. Anyway, the bottom line is this. I fail daily, bro. I fail daily. I bet you. Oh, man. No, I mean, that's why I need Jesus, man. We all do. You know, every day I pick up my cross and I follow the man. And that's what I'm trying to instill in my three sons, Royal Malachi Ezekiel. I try to definitely go by what God has shown me, what Jesus has showed me. And, you know, I try to live righteous. Am I righteous? No, absolutely not. Will I inherit the kingdom of heaven? I don't know. I would hope so. But that's what we shoot for. Yeah. All we can do is just keep fighting. Yes, sir. That's all we do. I think boxing really teaches you the fruits of the spirit. Because you get punched and you get up and you get punched and you get beat up and just keep getting up. I agree, man. The fruits of the spirit is something that is really instilled through the game of boxing. I mean, with the discipline alone, you know. All right, Victor. Yeah. Take us back. Take us back to Kansas. What was it like being a young fighter in Kansas growing up in the middle of nowhere with foster parents? You know, it's interesting. They've called it a foster system. They've called it this and that throughout the years. And, you know, I've allowed it to a certain extent. But the bottom line is when I was seven, I went to school, a regular day. My brother, my sister as well. we all went to school, came home, but when we got home, it was to an empty household. Mom's stuff was all gone, cleared out, the closet, everything. By this point in time, I was always in school, right? Of course. But it was one of those things where I always stayed after school because there was snacks and stuff. But by this point in time, my mom, obviously being gone now, my dad was. never really around because he was a truck driver. So he was always out doing loads or whatever it was. That particular day getting home, my sister, Carmen, she came in crying. I remember my brother, they were both crying. And I said, why are you guys crying? My mom says, my mom's, my sister says, I called her mom for a little bit. My sister says my mom's gone. Junior, my mom's gone. She's crying. My brother's crying. I said, she's not gone. She's working. What are you talking about? And she's like, no, Junior, my mom is gone. And I was like, no, she's not. She's at work, dude. Well, no. My mom packed up her stuff unannounced, nothing. She just left. My dad was out working. And then dad got home a couple hours later. I was actually happy because for the first time of my life, I got to sit down and watch a whole episode of Power Rangers. I love the Red Ranger, you know, at the time. And I just remember, like, reality really struck because we went into my mom's room and dad's room and everything was just it was gone it was cleared out I just remember I can still remember like it was yesterday you know my my sister and brother they just they were man they were like mom's gone and I was like she's not gone but you know throughout that time my my sister became my mom you know and then uh my brother I was like like a dad to my brother because now my sister had to step up and be mom to us. And then my brother didn't have because dad wasn't around. He was always driving his rigs or doing boozing or whatever he wanted to do. So it got really rough around that time where dad would come home, you know, off of some drinking and stuff. And I was, I was his favorite guy to take things out on, you know. But as I grew up, you know, I started having so much rage within me. But I was always a straight-A student. I was going to Kenneth Henderson Middle School now. I was a straight-A student. I would go to the after-school program because they had snacks. By this point in time, my sister had been raising us. And from there, I'd walk down to Bucky, to Bucky's gym. And I just remember my brother would hang out with his friends. I'd hang out with my friends. But thanks to my friends as a little kid, which I still am very grateful for. I have a guy named Brandon Carmichael. We talk all the time. I mean, we go some months without talking. We pick up where we left off. Just what two weeks ago, I got to see Kyle Brown. He was down in Rancho Cucamanga just randomly. It was awesome to see him. Diego Lazzarin, Anthony Rodriguez, Elias Vos, Vargas. And I remember I told those guys when I was a kid, I was 13, I said, hey, bro, I'm going to be world champion one day. Those guys, they like borrow clothes, shoes. Their mom's fed me. They never judged me. They said, get it, Vic. You could do it. They never said, nah, daw, you won't do nothing. And it was like I told the future because some years later, I called them and I said, hey, dog, remember when I said, I want to be will a champion? I said, pack your bags, mother. We're doing it this weekend, dog. They're like, what? I told you you guys are going to be wearing Hugo Boss suits, ringside, everything paid for. Just like you had my back, I have yours. So I had a good group of my friends show up. Elias, you know, he's married. He has his kids and stuff. It was one of those things where I should have put it out there to make sure he came, but he has his family, Anthony Rodriguez, we had lost contact. So three of those dudes showed up and we came in, man. We conquered the world. But my boys cried. They were like, dude, you did it. Anyway, we fast forwarded, but around that time in Kenneth Henderson, having good grades, a lady that I would see every day after school was my tutor. That tutor was is Sharon Ford. She said, heart you have good grades but it seems like you're you're fairly mad at the world i go no i'm not mad she goes you don't dress too well i'm like i it's okay my hair was always long and just i wasn't the most best dressed kid but i was very respectful i was always you know doing my homeworks but more importantly i was there for the snacks you know i i want my snacks so Fat kid at heart. Yeah, fat kid at heart, man. I wanted my snacks. So one day Sharon Ford says, Victor, yes ma'am. She says, you come every day after school. Why? I said, you guys can have snacks? She was, well, you also do all your homework? I was like, yes, ma'am. She says, do you need a ride? No, ma'am. She says, I followed you a couple days ago. You live pretty far. I'm like, yeah, yes, ma'am. She says, let me give you a ride next time. I was like, no, you don't want to do that. She says, no, no, I want to. I was like, well, you could take me out there, but yeah, you know, just drop me off a little far or something, you know. She didn't realize that the kids she's given a ride to that day that said, don't follow me. They had already boarded up the house because mom was long gone. Bills hadn't been paid. Dad hadn't been around. those boards are on the windows. So my brother, Timo, and I, we would go into the house, man. And wintertime would come around. We just old, man. I'll hold on to my brother, and I say, Tema, it's okay. I'm still here, dude. I got you. But it gets me, man, because I've been there for my brother, you know, since he was a kid. I had to be a dad. I didn't know how to be a brother. I was mad at the world just like he was. I was a little kid supposed to take care of another little kid, you know? I had this do it by the hand. I want my mom, shut up. She's not here. She's gone, dude. Leave it alone. And I was really mean. It's really hurt. But Bucky pushed me with that pain and that hurt to do something with myself. At 13, that year he says, Miho Jr., you need to come to my house after school. Yes, sir? Yeah. Okay. God bless his soul, but he had the lawnmower outside, man. He had the lawnmower. He had the gas tank. He says, Jr., today, you're going to mow my yard. And I said, okay. He had scrapers so I could scrape the paint off of his house. And I said, Bucky, is this some kind of Mr. Miyagi stuff? Oh, no, no, my boy. Just, you know, just listen. Go ahead. So I did all the front yard, all the backyard, and he came outside, and he goes, Miho, Jr., you know, oh, thank you. He goes, Miho, Jr., you're, you missed a spot over there, miho. And you missed a spot over there, too. It's like 90, maybe 100 degrees outside. I said, I'm sorry, Bucky, I didn't see those. I'll get them for you. All right, junior. Would you like some lemonade? Yes, please. Brings me some lemonade. Well, I was done cutting the grass. And he says, all right, miho, we're going to go train shortly. Yes, sir? And then he says, I have something for you, miho. And I go, okay. I was excited. I thought I was going to be like $5 or something because, you know, $5 is $5, man. I'm sorry, but. Still $5. $5 is $5, man. Shoot. No, it gave me a sonic card with a free ice cream cone. I said, Bucky, you shouldn't have, you know. I was excited for a second. I mean, I was excited anyway, because I got my freak ice cream cone, but I was like, thank you, Buckie. He's like, yeah, you know what, Junior, just hang out, hang around for a little while. You know, I'm going to take it to the gym with me, yes, sir. No problem. By this point in time, the lady, the day goes by, the lady reaches out to Buckie and says, you know that this young, this boy's been living by himself. Bucky already knew, but Bucky insisted that I go stay with him. live with him and I said no it's okay bucky I think uh you know just being there for my brother and being there with my sister it just it meant a lot because by this point in time now I'm 13 my sister actually got pregnant at 13 delivered at 14 so by this point in time we have a baby there you know so I was around my sister all the time and taking care of my nephew Isaac so there's just three of you you're all kids yeah in a house that's boarded up yeah well no no my sister sure it was already, she moved on with her, with her boyfriend at the time. By this point in time, she was interesting because she said, junior, junior, bro, I know I said I would never leave you, but I'm leaving. I said, what do you mean? I'm moving to Denver. I skipped a big part though. Let me just, I'll come back to that part. So this woman that reached out to Bucky was Sharon Ford. She says, that Victor, that young man is living without parents, right? Bucky said, well, I kind of got a little bit of that, but I didn't ask. So she broke it all down. This lady, Sharon, that followed me to the house, the boarded up place, followed me. The next morning at school, she has a conference meeting, and all my teachers are there. And I walked in, and I said, whoa, they called me through the intercom. Whoa, what the is going on? Watch your mouth. And I go, I didn't do nothing to nobody. And as far as I'm concerned, I have A's on all your guys' classes. So why am I here? Sit down. I'm not sitting down. I didn't do nothing. Sit down. I was very rebellious. What did I do? Sit down. Yeah, but come on, man. I didn't do anything to nobody. Check all the, check whatever. All you guys' classes, I'm passing everything. I have straight A's. It said, we know. We know what? We know. What do you know? Now Mrs. Ford, Sharon comes up. She grabs me. We know, sweetheart. You know what? We know that you've been by yourself. I was like, oh. Yeah. Yeah, it's been some years. Hey, but realistically, I don't need to be treated like something different by any of you teachers, okay? I appreciate you guys concerned, but no. I'm just going to go. just forget you guys saw or heard anything that some of the teachers were crying some of the teachers were like oh my goodness and I go no no no don't give me that that petty treatment I don't need it I said I've been in a street kid since I was a youngster and I'm all right really but you need no no no no I don't need anything please just may I