Floyd Mayweather was completely dominating Victor Ortiz for four rounds. Ortiz's only offense was rubbing his head on Mayweather until he blatantly head-butted him at the end of the 4th round. The fight was halted and a point was deducted.
After the fight resumed, Ortiz tried to apologize and an angry and frustrated Mayweather clearly didn't accept the apology. He hit a defenseless Ortiz with a combination that knocked him out and ended the fight.
Here's my take:
1) Ortiz was wrong for his dirty headbutts
2) Mayweather was wrong for taking advantage of Ortiz's seemingly sincere apology
3) Joe Cortese was the most culpable. He clearly did call the fighters back and restart the fight. But then he turned away. He did not see the knock-out punches. If Mayweather had kicked Ortiz in the stones, or head-butted him in retaliation, Cortese had no way of knowing.
4) Protect yourself at all times is technically correct, but it excuses Mayweather for hitting a fighter he knew wasn't protecting himself. It was within the rules but very unsporting of him. But it was nothing compared to what he did after the fight.
Larry Merchant is known for being tough on fighters, especially brash, arrogant ones. Many people say Merchant is racist, I don't agree, but the perception is out there. Regardless, Mayweather is getting paid millions of dollars, part of that is to answer Merchant's questions respectfully. Flipping out on a mostly-respected elder statesman of boxing just shows how little class Mayweather has.
But Larry's comeback "I wish I was 50 years younger and I'd kick your ass" was classic and guarantees he will forever be remembered as a tough in-ring, post-fight interview.
Bottom line: until Mayweather fights Pacquiao, many boxing fans, including myself, will have no respect for him, and will not consider him an all-time great.
2 comments:
now that I see it full speed it was definitely cheap. Not trying to defend him, but if someone head butted me or gave me a cheap shot, I might have done the same thing
The only one that did anything illegal in that fight was Victor Ortiz. FYI.
Also, if you actually watch the exchange closely, you'll see that Mayweather and Ortiz are told to resume fighting and Mayweather has his hands in a fighting position, ready to go. This isn't kissy face. It's boxing.
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