Victor Ortiz is an example of The American Dream, overcoming childhood challenges to conquer the world. Having been awarded three boxing titles he is now tackling the even more bruising world of entertainment with a key role in “The Expendables 3,” joining a cast that includes Sylvester Stallone, Antonio Banderas, Harrison Ford, Arnold Schwarzenneger, Jason Strahan, Wesley Snipes, and Mel Gibson. The film opens this Friday, August 15.

It was a difficult and unlikely journey for a kid from a broken home in small town Kansas to the bright lights of the boxing ring. When Victor was only seven, his mother abandoned the family and when he was twelve his father made his departure as well, leaving Victor and his two siblings to fend for themselves. At the age of 18, Victor became his own legal guardian and had finally saved enough money to reunite part of his family by legally adopting his younger brother. During those tumultuous times, Ortiz turned to boxing for salvation and an emotional, physical release. After a slew of victories in 2008, he won his first title garnering him the WBO NABO Light Welterweight Champion Belt. In 2011, he had a highly controversial fight against Floyd Mayweather in which garnered the second highest pay-per-view numbers for a non-heavyweight fight. 1.25 Million subscribed to the fight, earning $78,440,000 in revenue.

Sylvester Stallone, an Oscar-winning superstar, producer, director and writer, recognized Ortiz’ promise when he audaciously went up against some very established young actors in auditioning for “The Expendables 3” and emerged as the hand-picked actor for the job.

In “The Expendables 3,” Stallone (Barney), Statham (Christmas) and the rest of the team come face-to-face with Gibson (Conrad Stonebanks,) who years ago co-founded The Expendables with Barney. Stonebanks subsequently became a ruthless arms trader and someone who Barney was forced to kill… or so he thought. Stonebanks, who eluded death once before, now is making it his mission to end The Expendables — but Barney has other plans. Barney decides that he has to fight old blood with new blood, and brings in a new era of Expendables team members, recruiting individuals who are younger, faster and more tech-savvy. The latest mission becomes a clash of classic old-school style versus high-tech expertise in the Expendables’ most personal battle yet.

Ortiz stars a ‘Mars,’ one of the young Expendables recruited by Bonaparte to help Barney take down Conrad Stonebanks. He’s a sharpshooter, a devastating lightning-fast boxer, and a soldier. His weapon of choice is a Laser-ranged XM25 assault rifle with 25mm high explosive airburst rounds, programmed to detonate over or behind a target. Despite being a skilled sharpshooter, Mars suffers from severe acrophobia (fear of heights).

HOMBRE: How was the experience of working on your first film?
Victor Ortiz: It was a great experience. Everyone involved in the film was really cool.

H: How does it feel to be an actor now?
VO: It’s very different. Its not like boxing, but I enjoy it of course.

H: Working with such a legendary cast, who did you admire as a kid?
VO: I loved “The Terminator,” Arnold Schwarzenneger, “Rocky Balboa,” Sylvester Stallone, ‘Han Solo,’ who was Harrison Ford, Wesley Snipes who was the vampire in “Blade.” It was really cool. I can’t even explain how was it to be in such a film sharing the screen with this cast. I never dreamed that the day would come when ‘Rocky Balboa’ would call to ask me if I want to be a movie with him. it’s unexplainable.

H: I was about to ask you, how do you come into this film?
VO: I was in “Dancing with the Stars,” and Stallone’s wife watches the program and she told him, ‘You have to see Victor.’ Then I received an email from my agent telling me I had to go to a meeting for this film. And then I walked into the meeting and saw Stallone, it was huge shock for me.

H: Was being an actor part of your plans?
VO: I was thinking about it, but definitely not being in such a huge movie my first time.

H: Did Stallone give you any advice when it came to boxing?
VO: Of course, there was lot of boxing talk, he would talk to me of when he used to train with Roberto Duran in earlier times. We’re big sports fans so we would spend a lot of time discussing boxing. They all called me ‘Champ’ on the set.

H: How is Mars, the character you play in the film?
VO: My character is a weapon’s specialist, and I tell them what weapons to use. But before the film I knew nothing about guns.

H: Your character is afraid of heights, is there any truth to that in reality?
VO: Three weeks ago I jumped out of a plane, so there is no reality to that.

H: Do you have plans to make more films?
VO: Of course, right now they haven’t spoken to me of any fights. I’m in training to become champion again but they haven’t spoken to me about any fights so I took another film which will film in Virginia very soon.

H: How was your time as champion?
VO: It was the ‘Fight of the Year’ when I was crowned world champion in 2011. It felt wonderful and I want to go back there among the champions.

H: What advice would you offer to someone to overcome hardships and become successful?
VO: ‘Echele ganas,’ Go for it. You’re going to fall but you have to pick up yourself and dust yourself off and keep going. I was champion of the WBC which is one of the most respected belts, I defeated a champion who was undefeated because I wanted to do that. And I will be champion again.

H: What motivated you to be champion?
VO: The life I had wasn’t easy. Living with a dream every day that I had to become someone great. That hunger to become world champion when they all told me I would not amount to much. I reached goals that people could never reach where I come from.

H: And finally, why should audiences see the “The Expendables 3”?
VO: Because the film is filled with action, with a cast of actors who give their all.

Victor Ortiz photographed exclusively for HOMBRE Magazine by Steve Schofield

Film photos courtesy of Lionsgate