Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl
Protect yourself at all times. It is the oldest adage in boxing. Victor Ortiz did not do that, and he paid the ultimate price.
Everyone’s got an opinion and we wanna know what you think? Check the video (after the jump) and let us know what you think?
Mayweather/Ortiz – The KO? | |
Sucker Style | |
Legit | |
Both | |
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Floyd Mayweather Jr., who had dominated the first three rounds, looked brilliant in his first fight in 16 months, but that brilliance may be overshadowed by the way he scored a stunning knockout with one second left in the fourth round Saturday night to win a welterweight title at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Some at ringside called it a sucker punch from Mayweather. Others blamed referee Joe Cortez, who did not have his eye on the action. Whatever you want to call it, Mayweather drilled Ortiz in a triumphant return to the ring.
But in the fourth round, Ortiz found some success. He landed a couple of hard shots that had Mayweather shaking his head, as if say he did not feel them. But then Ortiz drove Mayweather into the corner post. Instead of following up with punches, Ortiz drove his head toward Mayweather’s face as if to intentionally head-butt him. Cortez immediately called time and deducted a point from Ortiz.
Then the fight turned somewhat surreal.
As Cortez was calling time, Ortiz — seemingly acknowledging his wrongdoing — hugged Mayweather in the corner and even appeared to kiss him.
Then Cortez waived them back together and they touched gloves. But with Cortez looking away from the fighters, Mayweather unloaded a left hook and a flush right hand to Ortiz’s face.
Ortiz dropped and was unable to beat Cortez’s count as the crowd of 14,687 — clearly an Ortiz house — went absolutely wild.
“In the ring, you have to protect yourself at all times,” Mayweather said. “After it happened, we touched gloves and we were back to fighting and then I threw the left hook and right hand after the break. You just gotta protect yourself at all times.”
During the lead-up to the fight, Ortiz’s trainer, Danny Garcia, had accused Mayweather of using his elbows and being a dirty fighter.
But it was Ortiz (29-3-2, 22 KOs) who turned dirty with the head-butt, not Mayweather, who was well within his rights to throw the punches that ended the fight.
“Time was in,” Cortez said. “The fighter needed to keep his guard up. Mayweather did nothing illegal.”
Mayweather (42-0, 26 KOs) did not have a lot of time to celebrate and was soon questioned about what had happened by HBO’s Larry Merchant during an in-ring interview.
“He did something dirty,” Mayweather said. “His corner said I was dirty, and he did something dirty. All along, his corner was saying I was dirty, but I won the fight.”
At that point Mayweather’s interview with Merchant degenerated. Mayweather began to get into Merchant’s face, saying, “I’m going to do you a favor and let you talk to Victor Ortiz, because you’ve never given me a fair shake. You ain’t s—.”
“If I was 50 years younger, I would kick your ass,” Merchant, 80, said back to him before turning to Ortiz.
HBO will replay the fight next Saturday night at 9:45 ET/PT.
Mayweather, who made a minimum $25 million, walked away from Merchant, clearly in no mood to dissect what had happened or to address his overwhelming performance, one which he deserves credit for as he took apart a man 10 years younger than him (Ortiz is 24) while coming off the long, self-imposed layoff.
(story Continues…)
WRITTEN BY Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter @danrafaelespn & FULL STORY HERE
Pissed we spent money on pay-per-view for 4 rounds. I could have waited for replay next weekend. I was really hoping Mayweather Jr was going to get the beating his daddy should have gave him. SMH
The game is a shame ! Everybody saying what Floyd did but no 1 is saying what Ortiz did , what kind of world do we live n ?
Now it makes sense why he doesn’t fight pacman. Mayweather didn’t earn that fight, that was a sorry KO. I’m not an Ortiz fan at all, but damn nigga have some balls and fight the man when he is ready to fight…
I hear everyone, fact is was it a cheap hit, without a doubt. Was it a legal hit yes it was. A boxers guard must be up at all times. That’s the rule of ANY physical sport. Ortiz with an illegal hit, mayweather with a legal!! cheap shot. That’s all she wrote.
That was BS, we all know what Ortiz did, everybody acting like Mayweather doesn’t do the same, but.. but… but.. anyways the point is.. call it what you want, it was a sucker punch, he wasn’t man enough to let him put his gaurds up and show the people a good show. The fighter needs to keep his guards up… blah blah blah, yes we all know… but that was slime at that second and you know, Ortiz had this fight and Gayweather knows it! that’s why he did what he had to do. Because he a bitch!
Well put GSCA21…and Ortiz was not up on the cards by the 4th round…Mayweather wld have eventually systematically broke him down
money may bitch
nuff said
It was a dirty KO, but it would have not happen that way if Ortiz would had remember that he was boxing not playing soccer.
Ref handled it the wrong way. Dirty fighters, bad reffing. Period. Ref should’ve sent them both back to their corners, deducted the point, then said fight after all the bs was said and done.
Thanking God for a sucker punch, legal or not, is funny as hell to me.
no it was fixed.
that dirty mexican got so pissed that all his punches were missing that he had to try to head butt flloyd U GOT KNOCKED THE FUCK OUT!!!!!! *smokey voice*
The difference between the 2 incidents is this… Ortiz headbutted Mayweather which resulted in a point taken during what was supposed to be a time out by the ref. So Ortiz was getting penalized for his cheap shot which is what’s supposed to happen. During the time out Mayweather decided to hit him before the ref called for time to resume therefore it was a cheap shot. That’s like a QB getting up & clipping a LB that is in the process of getting a roughing the passer penalty.
Both these dudes were on some bitch shit, the headbutt 1st, but damn Floyd sucker punching a dude, after you gave him the hug and kiss of death, LMFAO!, sorry ass fight and sorry excuse for a champion.
Wont pull that shit on pac man….. he dont give hugs
Ortiz ten years younger , 14 lbs heavier and throwing flying head butts!? He got just what he deserved KTFO! Intentional head butts are the most dangerous and therefore the dirtiest foul in boxing. Mayweather’s form of justice was swift, effective and legal! Only the most hateful and twisted logic can get past Ortiz’s blatant foul to accuse Mayweather of not playing fair. So called boxing analysts like Merchant and this writer sacrifice their credibility to suck up to the Mayweather haters. Floyd, in fact epitomizes the bad guy who is also the baddest in the ring bar none. This latest display of boxing mastery and shotgun retribution has driven his detractors to the point of knashing their teeth in foam flecked frenzies. Oddly, Ortiz seems the least affected by the ko, perhaps because only he knows the brutal beating he was spared.
As immense and controversial as the Mayweather persona has become it is still dwarfed by the cool surgical dismantling of his opponents in the ring. The haters, many of who are Pacquiao fans have clung to the mantra that Floyd is afraid of Manny and the pseudo-boxing media has taken it up. But the clarion call rings increasingly hallow as even the inexpert realize that Manny is no match for Floyd. Manny’s demise at the hand of Mayweather, a recipe for mass suicides among the hateful faithful.
Legal or not still was some sucker shit, especially considering the fact Ortiz was tearing his ass up before that. Yeah Ortiz coulda went without that cheap headbut, but that’s what penalties are for. Hope he keep his word and give him a rematch, but as far as mayweather he’s a sorry ass boxer anyways just picks his fights that’s why he undefeated. If he want any type of respect fight pacman and get it over with!