Floyd Mayweather Jr., a former five-division champion and one of the top pound-for-pound stars of the era, will end a 16-month layoff when he challenges welterweight titlist Victor Ortiz on Sept. 17.
"My fans have been waiting long enough. Floyd Mayweather vs. Victor Ortiz. Sept 17, 2011 for the WBC world championship," Mayweather tweeted Tuesday afternoon.
"It's true, but I can't discuss the details of the deal right now because of our contract," Rolando Arellano, Ortiz's manager, told ESPN.com. "There will be more details coming out and I will be with Victor later."
When asked where the fight would take place, Arellano said he was unsure but that "it will probably be at the MGM Grand (in Las Vegas)."
Mayweather, 34, has not fought since easily outpointing Shane Mosley on May 1, 2010. Since knocking out Ricky Hatton in December 2007, Mayweather has fought only twice, a decision win against Juan Manuel Marquez in September 2009 and the win against Mosley.
Most of the news Mayweather (41-0, 25 KOs) has made has been outside the ring. He has had numerous scrapes with Las Vegas police and has multiple cases pending against him, including four felonies and four misdemeanors stemming from an domestic incident with the mother of two of his children last September.
Mayweather also has declined to face pound-for-pound king and welterweight titlist Manny Pacquiao in what many believe would be the biggest money-generating fight in boxing history.
The lone issue that caused Pacquiao-Mayweather to fall apart during their first of two negotiations was Mayweather's insistence on random blood testing during the lead-up to the fight. Pacquiao was willing to have blood tests, but the camps could not agree on the specific protocol.
Mayweather has said numerous times that for any fight he has, he will insist on random drug testing. Mosley accepted it. Schaefer told ESPN.com that Ortiz agreed to drug testing under the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency protocol.
Ortiz (29-2-2, 22 KOs), 24, was the 2008 ESPN.com prospect of the year. The native of Garden City, Kan., now based in Oxnard, Calif., moved up from junior welterweight and outpointed Andre Berto to win a welterweight title on April 16.
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