WORCESTER—When Jamaine Ortiz attempts Thursday night in Las Vegas to become the first professional boxer from Worcester to win a world title since Jose Antonio Rivera in 2006, Rivera will be there ringside rooting for him.
Rivera, 49, attends as many of Ortiz’s bouts as he can and he and his wife Carmen plan to fly to Vegas on Wednesday. That’s the day of the weigh-in for Ortiz and his opponent, reigning World Boxing Organization and Ring Magazine junior welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez.
Rivera first met Ortiz at the Boys & Girls Club of Worcester when Ortiz was 9 and training under Carlos Garcia.
“He was a spunky little kid back then,” Rivera recalled.
Ortiz later sparred with Rivera’s son, A.J, who also plans to attend the fight in Vegas.
Over the years, Rivera, a former three-time world champion, has mentored Ortiz.
“Yes, I do see myself in him,” Rivera said, “because honestly it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a fighter with the dedication and hunger. This kid, he sees what it takes to be a champion and that’s why he’s gone as far as he’s gone and he takes no shortcuts. So I admire that and I respect it and that’s why I’ve been supporting him from the beginning.”
Rivera won’t be part of Ortiz’s training staff Thursday at Michelob Ultra Arena in Vegas. He’ll watch as a fan. Rivera throws short punches from his seat and he is so animated while watching Ortiz’s bouts, Carmen sometimes takes photos of him.
“I get nervous, I do,” Rivera said. “He’s like family to me. So I want the best for him.”
Rivera compiled a professional record of 43-6-1 with three world championships. In 1997, he won the International Boxing Organization welterweight title. In 2003, he captured the World Boxing Association welterweight crown. In 2006, he won the WBA junior middleweight title to become the only two-division world boxing champion from Massachusetts.
Rivera was born in Philadelphia and lived in Puerto Rico and Springfield before moving on his own to Worcester at age 16 to train as a boxer at the boys club. He’s lived in the city ever since.
Ortiz, a 2014 Doherty High graduate, will try to become the first boxer born and raised in Worcester to win a world title in pro boxing.
Ortiz is 17-1-1 with eight knockouts. Lopez, a 26-year-old Brooklyn native and Vegas resident, is 19-1 with 13 KOs. Ortiz lost a decision to Lopez in 2015 in the 132-pound final at the National Golden Gloves Tournament when they were amateurs. That fight was three rounds, but this one is scheduled for 12.
In November, Ortiz approached Lopez and agreed to move up from his 135-pound weight class to Lopez’s 140-pound class because highly ranked boxers in his lightweight division refused to fight him.
Ortiz enters the bout as a heavy underdog, but he’s scored upset victories before and Rivera believes he can record another one against Lopez.
“I think they’re good,” Rivera said of Ortiz’s chances. “I feel like Jamaine is the more talented boxer. I think he’s faster than Lopez and I think he’s more technical. But if you’re going to give Lopez the edge in something, he’s probably a more powerful puncher.”
Rivera said Ortiz’s trainer Rocky Gonzalez and the rest of his training staff know what he has to do to win.
“Jamaine’s got the style to beat Lopez,” Rivera said. “He just can’t stand right in front of him and take unnecessary punches.”
This bout reminds Rivera of how much of an underdog he was when he won a majority decision against Michel Trahant in Berlin, Germany, on Sept. 13, 2003, to earn the World Boxing Association welterweight championship. Trahant was the reigning European champion with a 38-0 record and Berlin was his hometown.
“They said the only way I was going to win was by a knockout,” Rivera recalled, “but I was able to work harder and earn a decision.”
On Thursday, Ortiz will fight Lopez in his adopted hometown of Vegas. Lopez won the WBO junior welterweight title in June by unanimous decision over Josh Taylor and he is the former WBO, WBA and IBF lightweight champion.
The fight will be the main event on a Top Rank Boxing card televised live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN-plus. It’s expected to begin after U.S. Olympic silver medalist Keyshawn Davis faces former two-division world champion Jose “Sniper” Pedraza at 10:30 p.m. in the 10-round lightweight co-feature. Fans can also take in the fight on X livestream.
Vegas should be wild because three nights later Super Bowl LVIII will be played at Allegiant Stadium in the city.
“It’s been since 2006 since we had a world champion in Worcester,” Rivera said. “I think it’s about time that Worcester had another world champion and this is going to be bigger because he’d be the first Worcester born and raised fighter to do it.”
Rivera has given Ortiz plenty of advice over the years, but he hasn’t said much to him prior to this fight. He figures Ortiz knows he must fight off his nerves, believe in himself and stick to his gameplan. Rivera said the key to every fight is more mental than physical.
Rivera is an assistant chief court officer in Dudley District Court. He didn’t make enough money in boxing to stop working, but he banked lots of memories.
“The experience was amazing,” he said. “Plus, I traveled all over the country and world for free. No regrets.”
Rivera overcame a lot to become a champion.
“To achieve those goals and dreams,” he said, “especially with the upbringing that I had, living on my own at 16 and kind of putting myself through high school and work, and then being a father at the young age of 20, it’s just all the hurdles that I had to go through to make it happen. When it finally happened, it was a dream come true.”
Rivera no longer fights, but he and A.J. promote boxing shows. Their next one is scheduled to have nine professional bouts on Feb. 23 at American International College in Springfield. The Riveras held a boxing show at Union Station last November and hope to hold another one in Worcester this spring.
Rivera and his brother, Jose F. Rivera, organized a send-off celebration for Ortiz at the Boys & Girls Club on Jan. 18, two days before Ortiz headed to Vegas to continue his training.
Rivera moved from the boxing arena to the political arena last year and lost in November to incumbent Etel Haxhiaj by 168 votes in the race for Worcester City Council District 5. He plans to run again in 2025, but he’s not sure if it will be for District 5 or City Council At-Large.
“I know I can make a difference in the city and I know I can be helpful,” he said.
Walter Bird, Rivera’s campaign manager, will host a watch party for the Ortiz fight beginning at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Off the Rails restaurant at 90 Commercial St. There will be no cover charge, but there will be free appetizers, raffles for a Red Robin basket, Pepe’s gift cards, WooSox and Railers tickets, a cash bar and food available for purchase, according to Bird. The fight will be shown on big screen TV.
Bill Doyle has been a professional journalist for 47 years, most of them as a sports writer for the Telegram & Gazette. He covered the Boston Celtics for 25 years and has written extensively about golf, boxing and local high school and college sports. He also worked for the campus newspaper when he attended UMass-Amherst. He can be reached at billdoyle1515@gmail.com
