Floyd Mayweather Extends His Record To 42-0; Gives Ortiz A Lesson Out Of Million Dollar Baby

Posted on | September 17, 2011 | No Comments

By: Rich Bergeron

All’s fair in love and war. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. recovered from a foul late in the 4th round against Victor Ortiz and hit his opponent twice when he had his hands at his waist to end the fight as Referee Joe Cortez stared into the crowd.

The much-anticipated fight was just starting to turn into a war. For the first three frames Floyd took control with an untouchable defense and an unstoppable offense. Ortiz blazed into action late in the 4th, but with just under :30 left in the round things began to get dicey. Mayweather taught Ortiz a lesson taken right out of the movie “Million Dollar Baby,” but without the resulting paralysis.

The cardinal rule of boxing is “protect yourself at all times.” No matter what routine a particular ref goes through to start a fight between two boxers, the spiel typically includes that dire piece of advice. Ortiz let his frustration get the better of him as he bulled Mayweather into a corner and headbutted him in the chin to start the snowball of controversy rolling toward an avalanche. Cortez took a point from Ortiz and restarted the fight. The ref looked away as the two fighters did the kiss and make up routine with a brief center-ring embrace. Ortiz hugged low, and when he retreated back a step, Mayweather hit him with a left hook and right-hand combo. If it was tackle football, Mayweather would have been hit with a penalty and a fine for launching at a defenseless receiver. Since it was boxing, there’s no instant replay that can reverse the call. Love it or hate it, the win counts.

Mayweather relied on cunning trickery to end the fight early, but he was well on his way to dominating the fight before the final seconds of the fourth round unfolded. Questioned aggressively after the fight by HBO Analyst Larry Merchant, Floyd unleashed his verbal fury on the aging commentator. Mayweather exhibited some patience in answering early questions but flipped out late in the session and dismissed Merchant after suggesting HBO should fire him. “You don’t know shit about boxing,” Mayweather bellowed at one point. Merchant wished out loud that he was 50 years younger so he could kick Floyd’s ass.

Just as the drama of the 24/7 series opened the introduction to this fight with a major episode, the fight that resulted from all the hype ended in the same wave of reality-is-stranger-than-fiction style. Floyd at least was gracious enough to offer Ortiz a rematch if he wants it. Ortiz did connect with a variety of hard punches to the head and a few ringing body shots, but Floyd let him know nothing Ortiz could throw would hurt him. For most of the fight it was the walk in the park Mayweather promised it would be.

Mayweather’s never-stop attack was key to the victory. He fought like a heavyweight. At times he looked like a vintage George Foreman using Archie Moore’s patented defensive style relying on covering the belly with one arm and the head and chest with the other. He looked like Roy Jones, Jr. as he slipped the best punches thrown by Ortiz and ducked behind a raised shoulder to keep his head out of range. Floyd’s jab was in full effect in this fight, and he showed flashes of a prime James Toney in that respect. He also adopted aspects of Mike Tyson’s infamous peek-a-boo style, particularly when he wanted to throw a potent left hook. The starching overhand right thrown by Floyd hearkened back to Rocky Marciano’s Suzy Q. He painted a masterpiece up to the point when all Hell broke loose.

As wild and crazy as the finish to this fight was, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. made it into his own personal chess match. He lulled his opponent into a false sense of security and checkmated him viciously with two blinding back-to-back moves. Ortiz left his king unprotected and paid the price. It happens. Is it a cheap way to win a fight? Most certainly. But, it was also cheap for Ortiz to corner and headbutt Mayweather. The underdog champion was just starting to show some promise when he resorted to dirty tricks, and he found out that Floyd knows all the dirty tricks in the book. You can’t blame Floyd for responding with an eye for an eye mentality, and in the wake of the fight Ortiz didn’t blame Floyd, either.

Looking at the way Floyd performed in this fight there’s no excuse to put off a fight with Manny Pacquiao. Both sides seem more willing than ever to negotiate, and there’s no doubt that this controversy will only fuel the raging fire consuming the boxing fan base screaming for this fight to finally happen.