by David P. Greisman

Former welterweight titleholder Victor Ortiz will appear on the 16th season of ABC’s popular reality competition, “Dancing with the Stars,” in which the contestants are celebrities — and for some of whom that label dubiously applies.

Ortiz’s gig on the show had been rumored of late and was officially confirmed this morning in a report by the Los Angeles Times. The 26-year-old last fought in June 2012, suffering a ninth-round technical knockout loss to Josesito Lopez and suffering a broken jaw in the process, both of which kept him from a clash this past September against Canelo Alvarez. He is 29-4-2 with 22 knockouts.

A full list of the celebrities and their dance partners for the upcoming season can be found at this link: http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-aly-raisman-dancing-with-the-stars-20130226,0,956339.story

Ortiz is the fifth pro boxer to be on the show. The others were Evander Holyfield (season 1), Laila Ali (season 4), Floyd Mayweather (season 5) and Sugar Ray Leonard (season 12).

Holyfield was the second contestant eliminated in his season, Leonard was the third to be eliminated in his season, and Mayweather was the fourth to be eliminated in his season.

Ali did the best of all the boxers, making it all the way to the season finale and finishing in the third place.

(Mixed martial artist Chuck Liddell appeared in season 9 and was the fifth contest to be eliminated.)

David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow David on Twitter @fightingwords2 or send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com