Justice was served Saturday night in the Mayweather-Ortiz WBC Welterweight tilt. One of the greatest of all time celebrated in the middle of the ring with his corner men, while the dirty fighter was sprawled unconscious on the ground staring up at the bright lights of the MGM Grand.
It’s a common boast before a boxing match to tell the audience not to blink in case you miss a knockout, and the thematic underpinnings of this fight did indeed change in an instant.
Only two minutes into the fourth round, the crowd was clearly already on Victor Ortiz’s side. While everyone recognizes that Mayweather is great, he can also be an insufferable egomaniac. Mayweather’s greatness had certainly been on display so far, consistently out-landing Ortiz with a lightning quick right without taking any damage in return.
It’s easy to imagine what Ortiz might have been thinking. Probably a mixture of curse words, ruminations about how quick Mayweather was, disorientation from being punched in the face over 60 times, and fervent hope that Denzel was cheering for him from the expensive seats. Whatever it was, Ortiz seemed to realize that with 30 seconds left in the round he had to do something quickly. In a moment of competence, Ortiz backed Mayweather into a corner, and unleashed a nice looking combination of rights and lefts.
Ortiz then backed off for a second, probably expecting his opponent to fall to the floor, but realized that his best efforts had failed. At this time, Ortiz made the fight dirty. In frustration, he launched his body back and head-butted Mayweather in the face.
A head-butt is a serious no-no in boxing, warranting a one-point penalty to the offending fighter. More importantly, a head-butt can dramatically change the nature of a fight, and the receiving fighter’s career. A head-butt can cause cuts and swelling; cuts and swelling can end fights. Mayweather ending the fight on the losing end means no more $25 million paydays, and scar tissue from head-butts can increase the ease of future bleeding.
As the referee broke the fighters apart, Ortiz landed his second best blow of the fight, and gave Mayweather an apologetic kiss on the cheek. Mayweather seemed angry, and looked ready to fight. As the referee told the judges what to do, Ortiz tried to apologize again, and Mayweather shrugged him off. When the ref restarted the fight, Ortiz once again tried to apologize. Then came a one-two combination of unparalleled beauty from Mayweather to a defenceless Ortiz, and the fight was over.
I know what you’re probably thinking: Mayweather is a creep. But in reality, he did nothing wrong. Any kid who’s ever played sports has heard refrains of “keep playing until the whistle,” or “keep going until the referee stops you.” In this instance, the referee had restarted the fight, and in a moment of unnecessary pageantry, Ortiz tried to apologize with a hug for the third time before getting clocked. In a sport where the sole purpose is to beat the other guy to a pulp, it seems pretty self-evident that normal societal etiquette no longer applies, and Ortiz should have been prepared to defend himself. Nothing Mayweather did was illegal, unlike Ortiz’s egregious breach of sportsmanship seconds before.
It wasn’t over for Mayweather yet, as his most challenging opponent arrived post-fight. I’m not talking about Manny Pacquiao, but rather 80-year-old HBO colour commentator Larry Merchant, whose verbal sparring with Mayweather after the fight would have made 50 Cent proud. In lieu of the seemingly never-to-happen Mayweather-Pacquiao mega-fight, let’s give fans what they want: Mayweather-Merchant.
