Johnny Ortiz, having been associated with Boxing for over forty-five years as a fighter, trainer and manager, is considered in boxing circles to be a bona fide boxing expert as well as a boxing historian.

He is a former co-proprietor of the legendary, world famous, Main Street Gym where all the great champions from Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson to Muhammad Ali and Roberto Duran once trained.

Besides being the location for most of Hollywood’s major boxing films in the past, Sylvester Stallone’s first three Rocky movies were filmed at the Main St. Gym. The historic boxing shrine was torn down after operating for more than fifty years.

During is tenure at the gym, Ortiz had fifteen professional fighters under contract which he both managed and trained.

Johnny has been the host for ten years in the Los Angeles area of his own radio boxing show, “Ringside with Johnny Ortiz.” It was the first radio call-in boxing show ever heard in the Los Angeles area. His show had been heard on KMPC 710AM, KMAX 107.1 FM , KWNK 670 AM, XTRA 1150 AM and KRLA 1110 AM.

As of March 25, 2001, his boxing show can now be heard in Los Angeles every Sunday and Friday night on ESPN Radio 710 AM from 8PM to 10PM. He takes great pride in having orginated the genre while at KMPC in 1992. The guests that have appeared on his show reads like the “Who’s Who” of Boxing. He is on a first name basis with the elite of the “beak-busting” business.

Boxing enthusiasts Milton Berle, Mickey Rooney, Red Buttons, Tony Martin, writer-film director Ron Shelton and celebrated playwright, Oliver Mayer, are a few of the Show Business personalities he has interviewed on his boxing show.

He has done television commentary on boxing on a number of occasions including an appearance with Angelo Dundee, the famous trainer of Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard.

He has written for several boxing publications and for the past four years, writes a monthly column for “Ring Sports Magazine” based in Reno, Nevada. It has a readership of 87,500 throughout the United States and 19 foreign contries. Beginning in April of 2000, he began writing for UPPERCUT Magazine, a bi-lingual boxing quarterly published in Los Angeles.

In 1981, during his tenure at the Main St. Gym, Johnny was awarded two medals from Jim Ballukevich, founder of the Washington DC Boxing Hall of Fame, for his contribution to Boxing.

He is on the Board of Directors of the World Boxing Hall of Fame.

On March 15, 2000 he was inducted into Ring Sports Hall of Fame.

He has appeared on numerous TV shows as a boxing expert and boxing historian.

He has been a fixture on the speaking circuit throughtout Southern California as a popular guest on the subject of boxing and the horror of drug addiction.

As a member of the Screen Actors Guild, he has had parts on TV, in film, and is an accomplished stage actor having had the leading role in nine out of ten stage productions.

While majoring in Drama at El Camino College, Johnny won the “Actor of the Year” award for his portrayal of Jack Manningham in the college production of “Angel Street.”

On April 15, 1999, Johnny completed his role opposite Antonio Banderas and Woody Harrelson in the Ron Shelton film, “Play it to the Bone.”

In May of 2001, director Michael Mann cast Johnny in the role of a Madison Square Garden boxing reporter in the film, “Ali.”

He is an author, having completed his first 25 chapter book, “Until The Next Round–My life Among The Icons.”

Johnny has had many personal encounters with celebrities of the film, TV, stage and sports worlds. Fifteen Acadamy Award winners are numbered among these personal enounters. These encounters are featured in his book.

He has been the subject of three feature articles in the two major Los Angeles newspapers, the Los Angeles Times and The Los Angeles Herald-Examiner.

On August 2,2002, “Vista L.A.” a popular TV program on Channel 7, hosted by Henry Alfaro, interviewed Johnny at the ESPN ZONE in downtown Disney, and later, filmed portions of his show, “Ringside with Johnny Ortiz,” that was aired Sunday August 25, 2002.

As a young man of eighteen he served his country for two years in the United States Army including tours of duty in Korea and Hawaii.

His brother Phillip Ortiz, who twice fought the greatest bantamweight champion of all time, Manuel Ortiz, ran for Congress and the Senate. Helping his brother in both campaigns, Johnny met and became aquainted with quite a few prominent politicians.

He and his brother Ray owned and operated the “Stardust” coctail lounge in Downey, California from the early 60’s throught the late 70’s. The Stardust was the front-runner of what is now commonly known as “Sports Bars.” Today’s sports bars have an abudance of TV’s; back then they only had a few TV’s, but they had the famous live bodies of the sports world. The Stardust was a popular hang-out for members of the Los Angeles Rams, Dodgers, Angels, pro-fighters and also catered to celebrated actors such as Henry Fonda, Steve McQueen and Robert Mitchum. Most of the pro athletes that came to town could generally be found–almost nightly–frequenting their club.

With Bud Furillo, former Los Angeles Herald-Examiner sports editor and radio personality, Johnny Ortiz would later co-own “The Lancer Lounge,” another extrememly popular sports bar.

Johnny Ortiz now makes his home in the San Fernando Valley where he resides as a single parent with his seventeen-year-old daughter, Jonna Michelle.