| 18 September 2011
In the charged atmosphere that existed in the aftermath of Floyd Mayweather's fourth-round knockout of Victor Ortiz, the most inane question that was asked of anyone was regarding who was the winner. Even Jim Lampley, no stranger to nonsensical queries and outbursts from time to time, seemed to chuckle a bit at that one.
Mayweather was the absolute winner. The booing fans didn't change that - a majority of them were rooting against him anyway. Neither did the perfectly legal yet ethically questionable nature of his knockout.
Floyd managed to stop a younger, (much) bigger opponent in just four rounds, albeit with two punches launched when said opponent wasn't looking. Mayweather will conveniently omit that last part in italics when talking about the fight, but that doesn't change any of the facts.
So the winner was never in doubt. What hasn't been discussed as much is who ended up as the losers: Boxing fans. Again. If that fight goes the distance, chances are Mayweather wins by comfortable decision because, hey, that's what he does. He's the best boxer in the world.
But at least Ortiz offered the promise of some moments of excitement along the way, certainly more than we saw from Shane Mosley or Juan Manuel Marquez. Unless you were a big Mayweather fan and enjoyed that weird KO, you didn't get much bang for your viewing buck.
Who's at fault for this outcome? Glad you asked. Tell Kanye and John Legend to fire up the "Blame Game," because there's plenty to go around:
Victor Ortiz
Be mad at Mayweather's opportunistic streak if you want, but we never get to that point if Ortiz doesn't head butt Mayweather while they were battling in the corner in the final minute of Round Four. He claimed in the post-fight interview that it was accidental, but the slow-motion replay sure didn't back up that story. It looked like Ortiz was getting his first taste of success in the fight, got frustrated because both arms were pinned and decided to use the one free weapon he had.
At least Ortiz could have the decency to man up after the fight to admit it. But he stuck to his guns, making it hard to feel sorry for him. He's becoming his own worst enemy in that regard, in the sense that he seems like a likable guy but gets less and less so the longer he talks.
And as far as taking his eyes off Mayweather? Let's just say there's a reason "PROTECT YOURSELF AT ALL TIMES" (in all caps!) became a trending topic on Twitter for a while last night.
Floyd Mayweather
I'm not even going to talk about the knockout, because it was clearly within the rules of boxing. It's not Mayweather's fault that Ortiz was confused, and if you think he's a jerk for taking advantage of an unaware foe, he really doesn't care. He'd rather play the villain anyway.
The thing that bothered me after the fight was that when initially asked about the punches that ended the fight, the first thing that Mayweather brought up was that he had just been hit with a dirty blow (the head butt, that is). That's significant, because it implies that Floyd may not have gone for the surprise KO had he not just been fouled. It's not quite "two wrongs don't make a right," but it is awfully close to "a wrong and a questionable right don't make a right."
Floyd's profanity-laced tirade against Larry Merchant was just silly posturing, even by his standards. After the way the fight ended, what exactly did he think he was going to get asked about?
Joe Cortez
Though he's an excellent referee with tons of experience under his belt, Cortez still deserves to take the blame when he messes up. And I think he messed up big time last night, probably more than people are pointing out (except for Dana White, but he's hardly a neutral observer when it comes to boxing).
The replays clearly showed that Cortez was not looking when Ortiz and Mayweather touched gloves and probably didn't see the left hook that Floyd landed. If he had called for the fight to resume, which he apparently did, why would he not be, you know, watching the fight? This is especially unforgivable considering the fact that the head butt had just occurred, meaning the action could have quickly spiraled out of control.
Ortiz should never have turned his head, but maybe he wouldn't have needed to if Cortez was paying attention. Sadly, we'll never know.
If you are of the mind that any publicity is good publicity, then Mayweather actually wasn't the only winner. The sport of boxing was too, because the end of the fight created a ton of buzz, got people talking and made it the lead sports story of the night.
Somehow, though, I think when both boxers look unsportsmanlike, one forgets one of the most basic tenets of the sport and the official appears incompetent, it's actually not good that the public is talking about it. If you love boxing, no matter how you feel about the outcome of last night's fight, that's not a pleasant thought.
