HOT SCALE (1-10): 10
By now, everyone has likely seen the outcome of the Floyd Mayweather/Victor Ortiz fight. Things were humming along like a typical Mayweather fight – not doing too much but doing just enough to be winning the fight and letting his opponent wear himself out. Then he turns it up a notch in the 4th round, and even Ortiz lands a punch that took Pretty Boy a solid 30 seconds to shake off. Ok, this is going to be a fight, I think to myself.
And then I see the head butt.
Now, I’m old enough to vividly remember the Mike Tyson/Evander Holyfield fight when Tyson bit the latter’s ear off. This wasn’t that bad, but it was still pretty flagrant. (Ironically, Tyson claimed in the documentary Tyson that he bit Holyfield’s ear in retaliation for Holyfield’s head butting.) Sure, Ortiz is 10 years younger than Mayweather, but he’s old enough in boxing years to know that head butting has no part in the sport. It’s not even like a low blow, which is still at least a punch. I saw it, but I couldn’t fathom at what point in Ortiz’ career he would have ever delivered a “leaping head butt” such that he would resort to such a move in the biggest fight of his life.
I was thinking the referee might disqualify Ortiz since I know that an intentional head butt can be punishable with a DQ, particularly when they cause gashes. I’m assuming the referee didn’t see that Ortiz’ head butt drew blood on Mayweather’s chin, but in retrospect, the two point deduction for Ortiz was probably appropriate (particularly when Mayweather’s only boxing once a year).
So, I’m still pretty hyped up, yelling at the screen that Ortiz is fighting dirty and (wrongly arguing) that the ref should have stopped the fight. The fighters reconvene, and appear to hug each other, hands down. Next thing I know, Mayweather clocks him – then clocks him again!
I *literally* hopped out of my chair at the restaurant when it happened. I thought for sure Mayweather was about to have his first loss for punching before the round began. When I realized this KO was going to stand, I yelled to the waiter “Hand down, man down!” which he got a big kick out of, and he agreed. (I later learned NBA commentator Mark Jackson also tweeted his now famous saying, which I must say makes WAY more sense in boxing.)
I then got into a debate with my other half over whether it was a dirty punch. His main premise was that you don’t hug a man then punch him. I can’t say I’ve ever really been in hand-to-hand combat before (besides in kickboxing class), but at the time, I thought it was hard to cry foul after Ortiz had just done the fouling. I still thought it might have been a sucker punch, but I was willing to give it a pass. It’s boxing, after all. How civil can it be?
We left the restaurant before I could catch Mayweather’s post-bout interview with Larry Merchant, but it was definitely worth the wait. I won’t post it here because the language is a little strong, but it’s not hard to find. This picture says it all:
I’m not usually for ignorant behavior, but that might be the most entertaining interview exchange I have ever seen, hands down (no pun intended). Merchant was brave to put his hand on Mayweather’s shoulder and say what he did, and the fact that Mayweather didn’t clock him, too, only proves that he may be a lot of things but a dummy is not one of them. I’m guessing that their history of similar-but not-as-amusing exchanges might have something to do with Merchant’s free-talking ways:
Ah, Mayweather. So entertaining yet so talented.
But it wasn’t until I watched the replay of the KO a few times that I realized what I had actually seen. From a different angle, Mayweather had his hands up the whole time, and almost pushed Ortiz off, yet Ortiz somehow was still trying to make nice for the headbutt and decided not to start fighting. The fight had started, and Mayweather did what he was supposed to do – fight. He didn’t have an obligation to keep letting Ortiz hug on him when there were only about 10 seconds left in the round. 10 seconds to do some damage. That’s the part I haven’t seen discussed, but that’s why Mayweather came back so ready to fight.
The fact that Ortiz didn’t read Mayweather’s body language is what got him knocked out. Why the referee wasn’t looking and Ortiz wasn’t keeping his eyes on Mayweather, even though the clock had started, we might never know.
People have asked why Ortiz wasn’t that upset. My best guesses are: 1) he just got out of the biggest payday of his life relatively unscathed (well, in the short term, anyway) and/or 2) he felt dumb for trying to make nice and not being on guard like he had been taught his whole life.
Or maybe it was a little bit of both. I heard that in the 24/7 on HBO leading up to the fight that his corner told him to keep his hands up at all times, so perhaps he has a history of doing this…but it could just be a general comment that is now being blown up, for obvious reasons.
Either way, that will go down as one of the most bizarre sporting moments I have ever seen. But bizarre sells. They don’t call him “Money Mayweather” for nothing.
The floor is now open…what say you?
After reviewing it several times over, I say the outcome was fair. Ortiz wasn’t paying attention, and Floyd took advantage of that. He went for the knockout.
Does it seem shady? Yup. But, within the context of the rules Mayweather did nothing wrong. The ref gave them the go ahead to resume, Floyd was in stance to box and that’s just what he did.
They both go home healthy, with fat pockets.
Sure, its within the rules BUT it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. It also certainly does not promote the good side of boxing.
@ Dawg….Imagine the bitter taste of blood in your mouth after someone jumps & hits you in the mouth HEAD first. What happen is called justice served! 2 wrongs don’t make a right but the 2nd wrong got it right this time. If Ortiz doesn’t try to play human cannonball with the head butt (Which I think was part of their fight plan. He tried to use his head multiple times before that.), we don’t even get to that point. He would have just taken the beating he was taking the first 3+ rounds. I actually think it was mercy. By right, he could have just continued the fight & given him a career ending beating for his actions. Ortiz was dirty outside the rules of boxing. Floyd did him DIRTY, but did it right. Did him dirty & got a title for it! Nothing illegal about it , LIKE it or not….. Hood Justice wins on this one!
totally fair. its only a sucker punch if uhhhhh… its not a professional fight, the ref didnt say, “fight!”, and it wasnt $40 million on da table. give that man his propers, hes the most dominant ATHLETE (yes in all of sports) of all time.. even mike took a loss…
I Gotta be Honest… the interview made me feel like i was watching WWF Wrestling, not a serious million dollar boxing match .. look at Merchants face… just feels so Staged
Interesting array of responses. First off, thanks for your comments.
What exactly is the “good” side of boxing? I can’t say I think it does anything to anyone’s opinion of boxing, and maybe has more of an effect on what people think of Mayweather himself.
I have to say I’m a little surprised to hear most of you saying that it was a dirty shot, but an OK dirty shot because Ortiz got what was coming to him after the head butt. When I think “dirty” I think of something illegal that wasn’t caught by the referee. But it felt more like an experienced veteran teaching the “newbie” a lesson by catching him off guard – which is kind of the point of boxing anyway, right? I think you have an obligation to be fair to your opponent but not necessarily overly nice, regardless of whether you’re retaliating.
Although, I can imagine Mayweather would be crying foul if the situation were reversed…