Victor Ortiz (left), who ran the L.A. Marathon on Sunday in a personal-best time, fights a return bout with Andre Berto (right) on June 23. (AP)

Victor Ortiz returned to action Sunday for the first time since September’s knockout loss to Floyd Mayweather — but it wasn’t in the prize ring.

The former WBC welterweight champion completed the Los Angeles Marathon in a personal-best three hours, 27 minutes, finishing among the top third of an estimated 30,000 starters.

“It was such great fun running with all these world class marathoners,” Ortiz said. “I know that made me run better than ever. In many ways it couldn’t be any more different that boxing. I mean nobody is punching you in the nose, the gut, the kidneys and on the chin and up the side of your head.

“But in other ways doing this very much relates to boxing. Conditioning the lungs, the legs and building endurance. That’s why all fighters do road work. But 26-plus miles is something else.”

The Ventura, Calif., native is scheduled to face Andre Berto on June 23 in a rematch of last year’s crowd-pleasing title fight, a split-decision win for Ortiz. That triumph vaulted Ortiz into a pay-per-view showdown with Mayweather in September, when he lost his title on a fourth-round knockout.

“I won’t say going 12 three-minute championship rounds is easy,” Ortiz said. “Anything but. But Berto must know how prepared I’ll be when he hears I ran this well three months before our fight. I’m very happy.”

Ortiz’s manager, Rolando Arellano, also participated but injured his knee and said he’ll require surgery.

“Victor would have finished even faster if he didn’t lay back with me during the early miles,” Arellano said. “When I insisted go get it and don’t worry about me, he took off like he had rockets in his shoes.”

Arellano did finish the race eventually.

“Rolando is a bulldog,” Ortiz said. “He finished the marathon hurt knee and all … in eight hours.”

– Bryan Armen Graham

Victor Ortiz, left, beat Andre Berto last April for the WBC welterweight championship. (AP)

Former welterweight titleholders Victor Ortiz and Andre Berto, who faced off in a thrilling slugfest last April, have agreed to terms on a rematch, an industry source told SI.com. While the exact date and location have not been determined, the fight will be televised by Showtime.

In the first fight, Ortiz (29-3-2) outpointed Berto (28-1) in a Fight of the Year candidate that earned Ortiz an alphabet title and served as a springboard for his fight against Floyd Mayweather in September. That same month Berto rebounded from the loss by winning another alphabet title in an impressive fifth round technical knockout of Jan Zaveck. He later vacated the title, choosing to pursue a more lucrative fight with Ortiz than face the mandatory challenger, Randall Bailey.

While Berto-Ortiz II has been anticipated for some time, that Showtime swooped in to pick it up is a surprise. The first fight was televised by HBO, which has a long history with both fighters. Sources say both sides were not pleased with HBO’s initial offer, which was significantly less than what the network offered for the first fight.

By buying Berto-Ortiz II, Showtime — which named former Golden Boy Promotions attorney Stephen Espinoza to replace HBO-bound Ken Hershman earlier this month — makes a strong statement about its willingness to be a serious competitor to HBO. With very few quality matchups looming in the first quarter of 2012, Showtime may have picked up the most significant fight.

– Chris Mannix

A surprisingly rocky performance by Manny Pacquiao (right) on Saturday represents the latest twist in the long road to a showdown with Floyd Mayweather. (AP)

Who should Manny Pacquiao fight next and why?

CHRIS MANNIX: Marquez. For starters, he earned it. Marquez has lost two of his three fights to Pacquiao and you can make an argument that he won all three. In fact, the only thing decided on Saturday was that nothing was decided.

I’ve been craving a Mayweather-Pacquiao showdown as much as anyone, but simply brooming Marquez aside would be insulting. Besides, Pacquiao-Marquez IV would generate a huge buzz and would invariably lead to a close, competitive, action-packed fight. Moreover, I get the feeling Pacquiao needs another fight with Marquez. Not because he needs closure but because Mayweather presents most of the same style problems of Marquez, along with a host of others. It’s a risk, but I say do Marquez first, then hope for a crack at Mayweather.

RICHARD O’BRIEN: I had no quarrel with Pacquiao’s getting the decision against Marquez last Saturday night. The fight was close, and Marquez, as well-schooled and focused a fighter as any in the game today, showed he knows exactly how to fight Manny. But he never pressed the issue and he certainly did not close out the show. Should they fight a fourth time? Sure. But not just yet.

Manny’s less-than-spectacular form against Marquez no doubt has lots of observers now giving him a lot less of a chance against Mayweather (whom Chris observes in this week’s SI is essentially a bigger, faster, stronger, younger Marquez). But that’s still the fight that boxing needs. Pacquiao has to know that his time is running short, as is Mayweather’s. And, no, Manny has no obligation to beat Marquez “more convincingly” before moving on.

Freddie Roach may be a little more concerned than he was before at the prospect of facing Floyd, but the idea that the 32-year-old Pac-Man needs a tune-up at this point, seems misguided. It may indeed prove to be the case that Mayweather is too complete and too slick for Pacquiao, but Manny has wanted this bout for years and if his flawed showing against Marquez makes him suddenly more attractive to Mayweather, well, that’s one good thing for Manny to come out of this weekend.

BRYAN ARMEN GRAHAM: Sure, Pacquiao should fight Marquez. Even Roach said so, and he hates the fight. But since when has what happens in boxing been about should? Now is not the time for an attack of conscience when Mayweather-Pacquaio is as close to coming off as ever. While any boxing purist would love to see Pacquiao-Marquez IV — a modern-day answer to the Willie Pep-Sandy Saddler quadrilogy — I’d be happy to wait until November 2012 for it. And I know I’m not alone.

Pacquiao hadn’t been seriously challenged since his previous fight with Marquez in 2008, a credit both to his meteoric spike in talent under Roach and expert matchmaking by Top Rank’s Bruce Trampler and Brad “Abdul” Goodman. But Marquez’s savvy counterpunching and meticulous ring generalship exposed a vulnerability that likely had Mayweather licking his chops.

Can Manny beat Floyd? It’s possible, but it won’t be easy. Pacquiao will need to recommit himself 100 percent to boxing to solve the biggest obstacle of his professional career — a challenge that may very well define him. That means no politics. No endorsements. No singing. No distractions. Maybe pass on Jimmy Kimmel this time. If he can return to the place he was before the Oscar De La Hoya fight that launched him to global susperstardom, Pacquiao may be able to fill out the holes in his game that Mayweather will be itching to exploit. If not, then Saturday’s fight was merely the beginning of the end.

Floyd Mayweather appeared on BET’s 106 & Park on Wednesday and ratcheted up the pressure on Manny Pacquiao to submit to completely random urine and blood testing so the world’s two best pound-for-pound fighters can finally meet in the ring.

Mayweather brushed off a question about the controversial ending to his Sept. 17 fight with Victor Ortiz — saying “it is what it is” — before quickly calling out Pacquiao.

“We’re looking for Pacquiao,” Mayweather said. “We want Pacquiao to take the test. We just want to give the fans and the people around the world what they want to see.”

When 106 & Park co-host Rocsi asked why Mayweather believes Pacquiao is being helped by performance-enhancing drugs, Mayweather quickly corrected her.

“I never said that Pacquiao was on anything,” Mayweather said. “It’s just that it’s not natural for any athlete to come from 106 all the way to 154, all natural, and compete with the best fighters. I never said Pacquiao was taking anything. I’m the face of boxing, and I’m just trying to clean the sport up.”

When asked what disputes were keeping the fight from being made, Mayweather circled back to a familiar talking point.

“We’re just trying to do random blood and random urine tests,” he said. “I took the test. I’m not just picking on one fighter. Ortiz took the test. [Shane] Mosley took the test. All I’m asking Pacquaio to do is take the test so we can make it happen.”

Mayweather was later joined on set by rapper/best friend 50 Cent, who was there to promote his new energy drink and book.

Victor Ortiz is taking aim at a rematch with Floyd Mayweather when he should be eyeing a return bout with Andre Berto. (Barry Sweet/ZUMAPRESS.com)

When a fighter loses in a controversial manner, some sour grapes are to be expected. When those gripes are delivered at a post-fight press conference they are, to most, understandable. When they are delivered via conference call more than a week later they are, to everyone, embarrassing.

On Monday, Victor Ortiz — along with his promoter, Oscar De La Hoya and manager, Rolando Arellano — held a call to discuss his Sept. 17 knockout loss to Floyd Mayweather. And it didn’t take long for the call to spin out of control.

Some of the (low)lights:

• Ortiz claimed that his head butt of Mayweather — as overt, unsportsmanlike and illegal a shot as you will see in boxing — was prompted by Mayweather’s incessant elbowing, something Ortiz says he had repeatedly warned referee Joe Cortez about before the fight. “He released the elbow on me,” said Ortiz. “I released the head butt.”

• De La Hoya, whose feuding with Mayweather has escalated in recent months, claimed that none of his past opponents would have delivered the kind of cheap shots that Mayweather knocked Ortiz out with. “Not even a [Ricardo] Mayorga would have done that,” De La Hoya said. “Not even a Fernando Vargas. That’s a new technique that must be taught in boxing.”

• Despite losing eight of the nine rounds scored by the three judges — and being shut out on many ringside media cards as well — Ortiz claimed he was in control of the fight. “I was dictating,” Ortiz said.

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Floyd Mayweather (left) appeared to be cruising to victory Saturday against Victor Ortiz before his controversial fourth-round knockout. (AP)

What is the legacy of Floyd Mayweather’s controversial victory over Victor Ortiz?

CHRIS MANNIX: This will stick to Mayweather for a while, as the taken-out-of-context video of him dropping Ortiz with that sickening, undefended combination will soon go viral. But let’s look at the full breadth of the exchange, shall we? Ortiz had hugged him. He kissed him. He tapped gloves with him. Then he hugged him again, the final act of affection coming after referee Joe Cortez had said “let’s go.” At what point does the conversation shift from what Mayweather did to what Ortiz didn’t do? It’s no coincidence that when great fighters offer an apology, it comes in the form of one arm extended with the other coiled and prepared to parry an incoming shot. Mayweather’s actions make a good highlight and his polarizing personality makes him easy to criticize. But this incident was more about Ortiz than Mayweather, about what happens when an inexperienced fighter looking to be friends meets a world class fighter looking to win.

RICHARD O’BRIEN: Stanley Ketchel, the great middleweight champion of the early 1900s, whose nickname was The Michigan Assassin, was hardly known as a strict observer of the ring niceties. But on Sept. 7, 1908 in Vernon, Calif., when he squared off against Billy Papke, whom he’d beaten just three months before, Ketchel stepped to the middle of the ring and extended his gloves to shake hands. That’s when Papke punched him right in the throat. Ketchel never recovered, going down five times in the first round and several more times before the fight was stopped in the 14th. Since then, Ketchel’s name has been indelibly linked to boxing’s fundamental edict: “Protect yourself at all times.”

Now that phrase will also forever evoke the smiling, and decidedly unprotected, face of Victor Ortiz, a far more amiable soul than Ketchel. Seemingly more intent on apologizing for his head butt of Mayweather than with getting on with the fight, Ortiz got his response from Floyd in the form of a quick left hook and a batting-practice home run of a straight right that put Victor down and out.

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Longtime HBO boxing analyst Larry Merchant (right) dared to ask tough questions of Floyd Mayweather and suffered the welterweight champ's ire. (Youtube)

Tempers boiled over Saturday during HBO analyst Larry Merchant’s in-ring interview with Floyd Mayweather after Mayweather’s sneak knockout of Victor Ortiz. In a clip that went viral almost immediately, Merchant peppers Mayweather with a string of tough questions about the controversial ending until Mayweather snaps:

Mayweather: You never give me a fair shake. You know that? So I’m gonna let you talk to Victor Ortiz, alright? I’m through! Put somebody else up here to give me an interview.

Merchant: What are you talking about?

Mayweather: You never give me a fair shake! HBO needs to fire you! You don’t know s— about boxing! You ain’t s—! You’re not s—!

Merchant: I wish I was 50 years younger and I’d kick your a–!

Mayweather: You won’t do s—!

Merchant is 80.

– Bryan Armen Graham

Fresh off his knockout victory, Floyd Mayweather was in high spirits Saturday night during the post-fight press conference. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

With an assist from Swanson Communications, here’s a sampling of quotes from Saturday’s post-fight press conference.

FLOYD MAYWEATHER, New WBC Welterweight World Champion

“This was another unbelievable performance. A lot of people want to know what happened. There were a couple head butts. S— happens in the sport of boxing.

“Protect yourself at all times.

“You wanted to see a knockout and that is what I gave you.

“When Victor Ortiz was nine years old, I was dominating the sport of boxing.

“This was an unbelievable training camp. This camp was blood sweat and tears. Being up all night. Running seven or eight miles. I deserved it.

“I was always told to protect yourself at all times. My mouth was split open. I said keep it clean. Once you touch gloves, it is go time.

“We came together to fight. It is fight time. You want to do me dirty and then two minutes later you want to be my friend? This is the hurting business.

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WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz is a heavy underdog Saturday against the far more experienced Floyd Mayweather at the MGM Grand. (AP)

LAS VEGAS — When Victor Ortiz visited the Sports Illustrated offices in June, shortly after word of his Sept. 17 fight with Floyd Mayweather had spread but before the official press conference announcing the bout, the 24-year-old was at the outset of a three-month promotional journey unlike anything he’d ever been involved with.

“They give me limo service now,” Ortiz remarked when asked about the biggest change in his life since becoming a world champion in April. “It’s kind of weird. It’s kind of disturbing actually, because I’m not like that. I’m a small-town kid.”

The evidence of Ortiz’s youth was manifest throughout his hour-long visit. Until then, I’d never heard a fighter compare himself to a Pixar character. (“I’m like Dory from Finding Nemo,” he said when asked whether Mayweather’s trash talk affected him. “I forget things in like two seconds.”) He was prone to extemporaneous and rambling answers, an area he’s improved greatly on since June. Where most seasoned pro athletes guard their emotions like Fort Knox — particularly in the hyper-masculine realm of prizefighting – Ortiz fought tears unsuccessfully in a room full of SI staffers when recalling leaving his brother Temo behind in Kansas when the opportunity to train in Oxnard, Calif., presented itself.

The promoters and the media (guilty!) have focused on the positive side of Ortiz’s youth, saying it’s been nearly a decade since Mayweather fought a young lion.

Yes, Floyd is going to see something he hasn’t seen in a while — but that’s a far more preferable obstacle than something you’ve never seen before.

Ortiz has never been in with a fighter of Mayweather’s caliber. Not even close. There’s young and there’s green, and the prevailing suspicion among the press as the stark reality of fight night approaches is Ortiz falls dangerously close toward the latter.

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Floyd Mayweather and Victor Ortiz faced off Friday after making weight at the MGM Grand. (AP)

LAS VEGAS — If there was any takeaway from Friday afternoon’s weigh-in at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, it was the impressive fan turnout for Victor Ortiz.

Of the estimated 4,000 who came to see Ortiz (147 pounds) and Floyd Mayweather (146½) make weight ahead of their Saturday welterweight title fight, at least two-thirds were clearly in favor of the 6-to-1 underdog from Garden City, Kan., by way of Ventura, Calif.

Mayweather, who operates out of Las Vegas and thus is the theoretical hometown favorite, was booed lustily by Ortiz fans no doubt thrilled to celebrate Mexican Independence Day weekend with the heir apparent to Oscar De La Hoya in a such a prominent role. Or maybe it was disgruntled observers just hoping to see Mayweather lose, as the prevalent chants of “41-and-1″ might suggest. Regardless, the atmosphere was buzzing as fans continued to trickle in more than 20 minutes before the fighters hit the stage.

After coming in under the welterweight limit of 147 pounds, Mayweather joined Ortiz for the traditional face off at the front of the stage. When Ortiz flexed his right bicep and slapped it with his left hand, Mayweather gripped his right hand around Ortiz’s throat and the two were quickly separated by Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer (and their entire camps, who had surrounded them).

In addition to ring announcer Michael Buffer and comedians Kevin Hart and Paul Rodriguez — who teamed to emcee the proceedings — former titleholders Zab Judah, Devon Alexander, Paulie Malignaggi and Jean Pascal took the stage before Ortiz and Mayweather hit the scales. Also spotted were NBA stars Jermaine O’Neal, Trevor Ariza and Caron Butler.

Another noteworthy attendee was was Floyd Mayweather Sr., who stood on the floor beside the stage and went unacknowledged by Floyd Jr. The two hadn’t been seen together, and reportedly haven’t spoken, since the long-simmering tension father and son boiled over in spectacular fashion during the first episode of the 24/7 Mayweather/Ortiz docuseries.

For one, Ortiz said the sound and fury of Friday’s posturing signified nothing. ”It’s all a big joke,” he said of the physical exchange with Mayweather. “It’s nothing.”

– Bryan Armen Graham