Ortiz had an award-winning amateur career, which led him to represent
Puerto Rico in the 1984
Los Angeles 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 (1948, bronze, boxing) and
Orlando Maldonado (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. Ortiz and
Arístides González 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, 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 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
Pernell Whitaker (United States) TKO 2 ==Pro career==