Luis Ortiz Flores (born November 5, 1965 in

Humacao Humacao () is a city and municipality in Puerto Rico located in the eastern coast of the island, north of Yabucoa; south of Naguabo; east of Las Piedras; and west of Vieques Passage. Humacao is spread over 12 barrios and Humacao Pueblo (the ...

) is a Puerto Rican former boxer.

Amateur career

Ortiz had an award-winning amateur career, which led him to represent

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

in the 1984

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

summer Olympics. Ortiz at first wasn't very well known in Puerto Rico. Within days after he started competing in the Olympics, that changed, as he began to win bouts. When he secured a bronze medal at the games, he became a nationally known figure, because Puerto Rico had only had two other medalists in their Olympic history,

Juan Evangelista Venegas Juan Evangelista Venegas (December 27, 1928 – April 16, 1987) was a Puerto Rican boxer notable for winning Puerto Rico's first Olympic medal. Early years Venegas (birth name: Juan Evangelista Venegas Trinidad) was born in an underprivileg ...

(1948, bronze, boxing) and

Orlando Maldonado Orlando Maldonado (born May 21, 1959 in Bayamón, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer who competed from 1977 to 1984, challenging for the WBC super flyweight title in 1983. As an amateur, he won the bronze medal in th ...

(1976, bronze, boxing). Ortiz made history, however, when he secured the silver medal a few days before the end of the games. According to him, he weighed himself on the morning of the day before the gold medal fight in his Olympic village room, and he outweighed his division's weight limit (135 pounds) by one and a half pounds. As a consequence of that, since that moment and until the gold medal fight, he was placed in a strict, liquids-only diet by his training team. Ortiz made the weight for the fight and was allowed to fight for the gold medal. However, he lost the fight by a knockout in round two to future multiple-time professional world champion

Pernell Whitaker Pernell Whitaker Sr. (January 2, 1964 – July 14, 2019) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 2001, and subsequently worked as a boxing trainer. He was a four-weight world champion, having won titles at lightweight, ligh ...

. Ortiz and

Arístides González Ariestides González Ortíz (born January 12, 1961) is a boxer from Puerto Rico, who won the bronze medal in the Middleweight division (71–75 kg) at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. He shared the podium with Algeria's Mohamed Za ...

also made history another way during these games: when Gonzalez won a bronze medal in boxing at the Middleweight division, these games became the first Olympic games in which Puerto Rico earned two medals in the same games. While José Torres, a Puerto Rican, won a silver medal in boxing at the 1956 Olympics, he did so representing the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, as he was required to because he had resided there more than six months. Ortiz's silver medal is historically recognized by Puerto Rican sports historians as the first silver medal won by Puerto Rico. Nevertheless, Ortiz was the object of a hero's welcome by about 300 fans at

Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport ( es, link=no, Aeropuerto Internacional Luis Muñoz Marín) is a joint civil-military international airport located in suburban Carolina, Puerto Rico, southeast of San Juan. It is named for Luis Muñoz ...

in San Juan when he returned home. His hometown officially welcomed him by placing many banners on street lights and thank you messages.

Olympic results

*1st round bye *Defeated Buala Sakul (Thailand) KO 2 *Defeated Alex Dickson (Great Britain) KO 2 *Defeated José Antonio Hernando (Spain) 5-0 *Defeated Martin N'Dongo (Cameroon) 3-2 *Lost to

(United States) TKO 2

Pro career

Ortiz tried professional boxing between 1985 and 1986. He did not enjoy much success in the professional rankings, winning 2 bouts and losing 1. All his three professional fights were won or lost by decision. Ortiz retired soon after his third bout, and now holds an office job in his native town.

Retirement (1986–present)

In 2016, Ortiz made a bid to become a delegate of the Puerto Rico Boxing Federation.

References

External links