Sports

Family drama surrounds Mayweather-Ortiz fight

LAS VEGAS — If there has been an underlying theme surrounding Saturday night’s welterweight championship fight between Floyd Mayweather and Victor Ortiz, it’s family drama. There has been enough in the camps of both fighters to make Dr. Phil seek help.

There was the heated, expletive-filled exchange between Floyd Jr. and his father Floyd Sr. in the first episode of HBO’s “24/7” series. Then there is the constant chronicling of Ortiz’s childhood that was scarred by being abandoned by both parents, leaving he and his brother to be raised in foster homes. There’s also the cold war between Ortiz’s trainer Danny Garcia and his brother Robert Garcia, who trained Ortiz during his early years.

Boxers coming from dysfunctional families are nothing new, but it usually is not part of the fight night build-up. That could change Saturday.

Robert Garcia, who isn’t speaking to his brother, and Robert’s top fighter lightweight champion Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios, who also is a childhood friend of Ortiz, could join the procession that walks Mayweather into the ring at the MGM Garden Arena. In essence, it won’t just be fighter against fighter, but brother against brother.

“Brandon’s going to walk us into the ring,” Mayweather manager Leonard Ellerbee confirmed, “him and Roberto.”

Mayweather, who will be fighting for the first time in 16 months, denied there was any gamesmanship involved in adding Robert Garcia and Rios to his entourage and insisted he knew nothing of the friction between the Garcia brothers until after extending the invitation to attend the fight.

“I just heard,” Mayweather said. “Someone told me they had a beef. I just invited them to the fight.”

Mayweather only would say his ring walk would be “creative.” But Ellerbee added, “It’s not a head game. It’s just entertainment.”

The move seems to have already distracted Danny Garcia, who took time at yesterday’s press conference to thank Floyd for inviting his brother.

“I want to say I love my brother,” Garcia said.

Whether Garcia and Rios are part of the ring walk or not, Mayweather (41-0, 25 KOs) seemed to delight in the stir it has caused. Being the center of a big pay-per-view bout is the norm for him. His four previous PPV fights against Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Juan Manuel Marquez and Shane Mosley have averaged 1.5 million buys. He not only is comfortable in the spotlight. He thrives in it.

This is the first mega-fight for Ortiz, who captured the WBC welterweight title by beating Andre Berto last April at Foxwoods. At age 24, he’s 10 years younger than Mayweather and reportedly has dropped every opponent he has faced. He has looked calm and confident throughout the promotion, telling Mayweather yesterday, “It’s going to be nice to do what everyone else has tried and failed.”

We’ve heard that before from Mayweather’s opponents, only to see them dominated by his superb ring skills. But boxing has had its upset winners — like Hasim Rahman, who knocked out Lennox Lewis, and Buster Douglas, who upset Mike Tyson. Ortiz (29-2-2, 22 KOs) insists he can deal with the spotlight.

“Here’s the thing,” Ortiz said, “41 of those fighters that he’s fought, none of them was me. Somebody’s in trouble.”

Mayweather said the boxer in trouble will be Ortiz.

“It looks different from the outside than when you’re in there facing me,” Mayweather said. “It’s totally different. That’s what I keep telling these fighters.”

Ortiz’s manager, Rolando Arellano, is confident his fighter won’t flinch during Mayweather’s ring walk or during the heat of the fight.

“He doesn’t get caught up in this,” Arellano said. “In fact, he doesn’t mind it. He’s a real serene type of dude. If you want to be successful in the battlefield, you’d better be calm when the bullets start flying, and that’s what he is.”

george.willis@nypost.com