FanHouse Oscar De La Hoya

Victor Ortiz's mother abandoned him at the age of 7. Five years later, his father left, too. So, it's surprising to hear the 22-year-old light welterweight boxing star say that his life is still "hell."

"When you're champion, everyone wants to take it from you," Ortiz told FanHouse recently." So, you have to put yourself physically and mentally through hell to keep what you have already."

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

Many experts think Victor Ortiz, who is currently ranked third by the WBA, is the next boxing superstar. Is he poised to be the next Oscar De La Hoya? In this video we talk to him about it as he prepares for his June 27th fight against Marcos Maidana, a fighter who has 25 wins, 24 of which are by knockout.

Check out the video after the jump.

No one has yet beaten Floyd Mayweather in the boxing ring, but ESPN's Brian Kenny gave Mayweather a beating in a hotly contested interview Wednesday. Kenny dodged Mayweather's verbal insults for 13 minutes and peppered Mayweather with strong arguments, making his case that Manny Pacquiao has taken the title of best pound-for-pound boxer in the world away from Mayweather, and that if Mayweather wants it back, he has to take it in the ring.

On Saturday afternoon, I told someone that I thought Floyd Mayweather Jr. would beat Manny Pacquiao, if the fight between the world's two best boxers finally materializes. After watching Pacquiao destroy Ricky Hatton on Saturday night, I no longer think that.

In fact, I now think this: Pacquiao, the little man who started his professional boxing career in the Philippines fighting at 106 pounds, would beat any boxer at any weight class under 160. Yes, you read that right: Pacquiao would have to move all the way up to middleweight before I'd bet against him.

How dominant a boxer is Manny Pacquiao? So dominant that even boxers who can make more than $10 million a fight question whether they should call it a career after stepping into the ring with him. First it was Oscar De La Hoya who announced his retirement after losing to Pacquiao, and now Ricky Hatton may be following in De La Hoya's footsteps.

LAS VEGAS – The last time I saw Andre Ward, he was ascending the medal platform in a warehouse-type building in a dingy part of Athens, Greece, to receive the Olympic gold medal in the light heavyweight division. I'd all but forgotten about him until Saturday morning, when I shared breakfast and chitchat with him, a dozen or so other scribes, and his promoter Dan Goossen.

And that is Ward's problem, which he and Goossen hope to address in earnest May 16 in Ward's hometown, Oakland, Calif., where he is scheduled to fight his first name opponent, the big-hitting (and big be hit) Colombian, Edison Miranda. Ward never seized the boxing public's psyche after Athens. He never cashed in that gold medal as others had before him, like, most notably, Oscar de la Hoya.

After all, another Olympics has come and gone and Ward doesn't have a world title to go with his 18-0 record. De La Hoya had multiple world titles by now.

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Floyd Mayweather Jr. is back, ending his brief retirement from boxing.

The undefeated five-division champion plans to announce Saturday his return to the sport with a July fight against WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez, a person close to the fight confirmed Friday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the fight hadn't been officially announced.

LAS VEGAS -- With 6,000 screaming fans crammed into a cordoned off portion of the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Friday, Manny Pacquiao stepped onto a scale and tipped it at 138 pounds. Then came Ricky Hatton; his weight was announced at 140 pounds.

Too bad they aren't fighting this evening.

It is virtually impossible to find a superstar athlete these days for whom some disdain can't be mustered. Michael Phelps gets busted. LeBron James gets the benefit of the NBA's preferential refereeing. The Williams Sisters get surly. Rafael Nadal showed some audacity by suggesting tennis adjust its schedule to his liking. And Derek Jeter is a Yankee.

But there is Manny Pacquiao, all 5 feet, 6 inches and 140 pounds of him. What is there about him not to like?

When Affliction announced its partnership with Golden Boy Promotions, it was seen as a big deal for mixed martial arts that the top boxing promoter was getting involved in MMA.

But does Golden Boy really have big plans for MMA? After Golden Boy boss Oscar De La Hoya announced his retirement from boxing, I asked him about his goals as a promoter, and I was interested in what he didn't say.