Some things are just meant to be. Floyd Mayweather’s successful ring return after a 16-month absence was
shrouded in controversy and outrage here on Saturday night when he was accused
of "blindsiding" opponent Victor Ortiz with two illegal blows in a
widely contentious fourth-round finish. Mayweather will always be the bad boy. Just as he will always be a marketing genius. And just as Manny Pacquiao will remain a media darling. Just the way it is.
As the great Samuel Johnson, an English journalist of the last century, once wrote: the best journalism follows certain credos. His motto ? Research meticulously. Simplify. Exaggerate. For these principles, read Mayweather and Pacquiao. And those aspects will not change until the pair are long gone from the ring.
The final act of this absorbing World Boxing Council welterweight
title fight will fall into the annals of boxing’s most debated
finishes, yet the bizarre denouement merely masked the deficiencies of
work-in-progress Ortiz, and enhanced the sublime skills which Mayweather possesses.
Mayweather was accused of unsportsmanlike behaviour, yet he claimed
rigourously that he had merely acted within his rights, moments after
he had been headbutted viciously by Ortiz. There was the whiff of
retribution in his action.
Victory saw Mayweather win back the world title and extend his
unbeaten career to 42 contests, yet the manner of victory and his
comportment after the fight will divide opinion across the globe.
Mayweather even found himself drawn into a slanging match live on air
in the immediate aftermath of the contest with the veteran interviewer
Larry Merchant, which ended with the broadcaster telling
the fighter he would have whipped his ***, “if I was 50 years younger”.
The denouement was as dramatic as it was decisive: Mayweather, who was
dominating the contest in that final round, having peppered the man
ten years his junior with his right-hand lead, found himself caught on
the ropes by Ortiz.
As Mayweather covered up in defence, ducking and swaying, the two
fighters' heads came close together and Ortiz headbutted his opponent
like a pogo-ing punk rocker. The action was both inexplicable and
shocking. It was also deliberate beyond any doubt.
Mayweather recoiled away in shock, referee Joe Cortez deducted a
point, while Ortiz went to plant a kiss on Mayweather's cheek, hugged
him and apologised.
Cortez then sent Ortiz to a neutral corner. It was a singular sequence
that was about to get even more bizarre.
Cortez indicated that the point had been deducted. The fighters came
together in the middle of the ring. Mayweather held out his hands, to
touch, and Ortiz went to embrace his rival, again apologetic.
As they moved apart, Ortiz did not have his hands up. Mayweather threw
a left hook which wobbled Ortiz, who glanced at Cortez as if seeking
instruction. In that same moment, Mayweather threw a hard straight
right.
Ortiz went down. Cortez counted him out. There was outrage and uproar
from many of the 14,687 witnesses in attendance in the MGM Grand
Garden Arena.
Ortiz claimed: "He blindsided me. I'm not a dirty fighter. I
apologised for the headbutt. I took the break and obeyed exactly what
I was told [by the referee].”
“In a sense he caught me as a payback. I spaced out. I didn’t see the
punches coming. I went blank. I woke up afterwards. I didn’t hear Joe
Cortez say ‘box’.”
However, Cortez explained his decision to count out the 24-year old
American: “Time was ‘in’ again, and the fighter has to have his guard
up. Mayweather did nothing wrong.”
It was a contest in which Mayweather looked dominant, aggressive,
measured and the consummate fighter. He was dominant from the opening
round. Calls for a contest between Mayweather, and his greatest rival,
the Filipino Manny Pacquiao, will again gather momentum, although
Britain's Amir Khan is desperately seeking his moment in the spotlight
against the fighter whose career earnings could reach the $150 million
mark before he retires.
Mayweather said: "In the end, you have to protect yourself at all
times. His trainer accused me of being dirty, and yet he [Ortiz]
headbutted me. What goes around, comes around in this sport. When I'm
in the square circle, I'm in my home."
The debate over the end to this fight will continue, yet the bottom
line here was that Ortiz took his eye off the ball, while Mayweather
kept his eye on the prize, fairly or unfairly. The longer-term
argument is whether Pacquiao – or anyone in this generation including
young pretenders like Khan – have the ring skills to dethrone the
controversial American fighter.
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