There's no way of knowing, but I'm sure of it. Floyd Mayweather Jr. would have won the fight against Victor Ortiz Jr. last night anyway.
If you didn't happen to catch the fight because you've chosen to wait until it debuts on HBO next week, then you missed out on one of the most entertaining moments in boxing. No it had nothing to do with Mayweather's controversial knockout in the fourth round. It happened during the post fight interview with the ubiquitous Larry Merchant peppering Mayweather about the knockout, which I will get to shortly. Feeling pressured by the much older Merchant, Mayweather lashed out at his interviewer, accusing Merchant of being biased against him. Then just as suddenly, still on live TV, Mayweather expressed his wish to have HBO fire Merchant, who has been the ringside interviewer at major fights since before I was born. It doesn't end there. Amazingly, Merchant, who I've always maintained talks too slowly to still be an active ringside interviewer, didn't back down, telling Mayweather, "I wish I was 50 years younger, I'd have kicked your (rhymes with bass.)" Ashamedly, I found myself cheering for another fight just to see the embarrassing finish to the side plot.
The Merchant-Mayweather debacle could have been a publicity stunt on Mayweather's end to embrace the hostility he earned with his win, but the conclusion to the actual fight was not. So many friends have Facebooked, twitted and (insert any other social media network you can think of) their opinions about the fight, and the majority sided with Ortiz. After all, Mayweather took a cheap shot right? Wrong.
It all happened too quickly that I never noticed how far into the fourth round the fight had gone. But somewhere in the middle of that round, Ortiz had backed Mayweather into the ropes and seemed to be earning a few points, enough to possibly claim that round. Suddenly, and in one of the worst incidents of headbutting I have ever seen in a fight, Ortiz rose from his crouched stance and deliberately headbutted Mayweather. Fight was stopped and ref Joe Cortez deducted a point from Ortiz. No harm done; until he motioned for the two fighters to approach the center of the ring and touch gloves. They touched gloves and Ortiz broke away from customary behavior to extend a hug to Mayweather as well, as if to suggest his headbutting was unintentional. Yeah right. Mayweather, probably still smarting, noticed Cortez was distracted and threw a left hook that connected perfectly with Ortiz' cheekbones. And then a right that dropped Ortiz to the mat. Fight over.
I don't think people realized what had happened until the replay showed what appeared to be a cheap shot at an unsuspecting opponent. I would have loved to see the fight end in a different way, but I don't see why Mayweather should take the blame for the results. Both Ortiz and Cortez share the blame in the bizarre conclusion.
If Ortiz hadn't taken his cheap shot, the fight would never have stopped. But not only did he stop his own momentum with that stupid decision, he lost his focus. You are Ortiz. You have been preparing for a chance to rejoin the elite of the sport after suffering an embarrassing loss that almost destroyed your career a few years back. You don't fall asleep until you are in the changing room post match. You don't show any weakness or sympathy by hugging your opponent mid-fight. Merely touching the gloves would have sufficed. He got caught up in the moment of proving his silly headbutt was unintentional that he allowed one of the cunningest fighters in the sport to catch him unguarded. Protect yourself at all times; that's the fundamental rule of boxing. In one of four episodes of HBO's 24/7, chronicling the two boxers' pre-fight preparations, one of the sons of Ortiz' trainer, Danny Garcia, labeled Mayweather a dirty fighter who wins with dodgy tactics. So why wasn't Ortiz prepared to protect himself from any possible dirty tactics?
Cortez shares the blame because he broke away from what is the norm when a fight is paused. I thought he gave a slight signal to resume that may not have been noticed by most. He should have checked with the ringside and confirmed the time left in the round before urging the fighters to touch gloves. Once he realized his mistake, he took his eyes away from the most important people in that arena and focused on the wrong ones. You cannot make those types of mistakes in big fights like this one.
In the end, hate him or love him, Mayweather's winning streak continues. Thus, his despicable behavior outside the ring is sure to continue. Until he can be stopped, there's no reason why he needs to remain quiet. Undoubtedly, there's bound to be reignited talk for a Mayweather-Pacquaio fight. I just hope there can be a compromise to make this fight happen. Boxing needs this fight to happen. Otherwise, we're stuck analyzing possible fights between elder statesmen who can barely hold onto a microphone versus egomaniac boxers who talk more about how much they stand to make from a fight than actual strategy needed to win the fight.
On the money. Well written.
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