Victor Ortiz Swaps Gloves for Bare Knuckles, Eyes Canelo and Crawford

Victor Ortiz is trading in his boxing gloves for something a lot more brutal. The 39-year-old former champion has officially joined Bare Knuckle Boxing and is stepping into the ring on July 18 to face Dominic Salcido at the Novo in downtown Los Angeles. But this isn’t just another fight for a veteran looking to stay active—it’s a statement about where modern boxing has lost its way, at least in Ortiz’s eyes.

The decision didn’t happen on a whim. Ortiz explained that after prayer, a three-week fast, and carefully considering the offer, he felt called to make the move. It’s the kind of deliberate choice you’d expect from someone who’s already fought the sport’s biggest names—Floyd Mayweather, Marcos Maidana, and Andre Berto don’t exactly make up an ordinary boxing résumé. But here’s the thing: Ortiz isn’t framing this as a comeback. He’s never actually left combat sports. What changed, in his view, is boxing itself. The sport has become obsessed with seven-figure paydays and protecting undefeated records at all costs, leaving the kind of competitive fire Ortiz is hungry for in the dust.

That hunger has him thinking big. When asked who from the traditional boxing world he’d like to see make the leap to bare knuckles, Ortiz didn’t hesitate: Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford. The fact that he’s eyeing names of that magnitude—especially Crawford, widely considered one of the sport’s pound-for-pound greats—shows Ortiz isn’t content with just surviving his BKB debut. He’s already imagining what happens after he proves himself in this new arena.

There’s a certain poetry to it. Ortiz recently sparred with Oscar De La Hoya, but he was quick to note that an actual fight between them would feel like a repeat of the Jake Paul and Mike Tyson spectacle—more curiosity than credible competition. That’s not what he’s after. By contrast, matching up with Crawford or Canelo under bare-knuckle rules? That would be sport, not sideshow. Whether either fighter ever takes that call is another story, but for now, Ortiz has his immediate mission: prove on July 18 that switching disciplines at 39 isn’t a lark—it’s a reckoning with what boxing has become.