Commission interested in explanation from Ortiz

Victor Ortiz's mouth has gotten him into trouble before and it looks as if it has happened again.

The WBC welterweight champion, who is preparing for a Feb. 11 rematch against former champ Andre Berto at the MGM Grand Garden, said in a recent interview that he would deliberately commit a foul again if he were to face Floyd Mayweather Jr. again.

When they squared off Sept. 17 at the MGM Grand, Ortiz deliberately head-butted Mayweather in the fourth round. He had a point deducted by referee Joe Cortez, and Ortiz apologized several times to Mayweather. He was in mid-apology when Cortez restarted the fight and Mayweather knocked out Ortiz with a two-punch combination to the head.

"I was trying to break his nose," Ortiz told boxing website Secondsout.com on Dec. 19. "If I head-butt you next time, I'll break your nose."

The interview, posted on YouTube, caught the attention of the Nevada Athletic Commission, which has asked Ortiz to appear at a commission meeting at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Grant Sawyer State Office Building.

"There's two concerns here," NAC executive director Keith Kizer said. "One, what he did in the ring that night against Mayweather and if it's relevant to his being licensed to fight in Nevada. Two, that he would willingly commit another blatant foul. That's why we need to talk to him before we license him."

It's unlikely Ortiz would be denied a license. But what normally would have been a routine procedure has become a matter for increased scrutiny. At the least, Ortiz will have to explain his comments from the interview.

One thing he won't be able to tell the commission is that he was misquoted. The interview was videotaped and unedited, there for all the world to see.

■ NEXT FOR PACQUIAO? -- Mayweather remains a free man for the moment, but he's not on Manny Pacquiao's current short list of potential opponents.

Top Rank chairman Bob Arum flew to the Philippines today to meet with Pacquiao and discuss who the WBO welterweight champion will fight next.

Arum plans to spend a week with Pacquiao, and he has four possible opponents for his fighter. Foremost would be a fourth meeting with Juan Manuel Marquez, against whom Pacquiao is 2-0-1 after beating him Nov. 12.

The other possibilities are a rematch against Miguel Cotto, who Pacquiao soundly defeated in 2009; a fight against Lamont Peterson, the recently crowned WBA/IBF junior welterweight champion; and a fight against junior welterweight Tim Bradley, who defeated Joel Casamayor on Nov. 12.

The tentative plan is for Pacquiao's next fight to be in late May or early June at the MGM Grand Garden, aired by HBO Pay Per View.

"These are all fights we can make," Arum said Friday. "I wouldn't waste Manny's time if I didn't think we could do these fights. I have my preferences as to who I think Manny should fight, but I need to be like Switzerland and stay neutral and let Manny decide what he wants. Ultimately, it's going to be his decision."

■ CLEVERLY PASSES -- WBA light heavyweight champion Beibut Shumenov's camp is not happy with WBO champ Nathan Cleverly.

Cleverly recently signed to defend his title against Tommy Karpency on Feb. 25 in Wales after claiming that Shumenov (12-1, eight knockouts) rejected an offer for a title unification fight.

Don Chargin, who helps promote Shumenov, said: "We made an offer weeks ago to have Cleverly fight Beibut in Las Vegas and we never heard from them. Now we find that Cleverly is fighting Karpency because Beibut turned down a fight with Cleverly.

"Beibut never turned down any fight against Cleverly because they didn't make an offer to us."

Shumenov, who lives and trains in Las Vegas, was last in the ring July 29 when he stopped Danny Santiago in the ninth round at the South Point.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.