By Chris Williams: Despite Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe saying on Monday that there will be no rematch between WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (42-0, 26 KO’s) and Victor Ortiz (29-3-2, 22 KO’s), Mayweather himself tweeted this within the past hour: “I’ll give Ortiz a rematch but first he’s got to get passed Andre Berto. The only man who can beat me is the man in the mirror. Victoria Ortiz’s new nickname is ‘Take 2 of these [punches] and call me in the morning.’ Victoria Ortiz thought it was a headbutting contest. But that 2 piece gave him some act right”
If Mayweather is serious about this then it puts Ortiz in a good position to get the rematch, because it was thought that Mayweather wouldn’t bother fighting Ortiz again because of the one-sided nature of their fight. Boxing fans aren’t calling for a rematch between Mayweather and Ortiz. No one really cares to see that fight again. There really isn’t anyone for Mayweather to fight that’s all that exciting except for Manny Pacquiao, who doesn’t seem interested in following Mayweather’s instructions that he stay in the U.S to be tested by the USADA before he’ll agree to fight him. Amir Khan is a possible opponent for Mayweather next year, but we’ve already seen Khan get stopped by Breidis Prescott and battered around the ring by Marcos Maidana. Khan has been matched against fighters without power other than those two fights. He hasn’t had to get hit a lot, and against Mayweather he’ll get hit and get knocked out quickly. There’s no sense of competitiveness in that fight.
I’m sure that Ortiz is smiling from ear to ear at this news, because he already beat Berto by a 12 round unanimous decision last April, and his fighting style matches up very well against Berto. Ortiz basically copied Marcos Maidana’s in close nonstop punching attack to wear Berto out last April, and I didn’t see anything from Berto’s recent performance against former International Boxing Federation (IBF) welterweight champion Jan Zaveck earlier this month that suggests that the Berto-Ortiz rematch will be any different from the first fight.
Unless Berto can knock Ortiz out, he loses the fight. It’s that simple. But Berto may not be willing to give Ortiz an immediate shot at trying to win his title, because Berto will probably fall back into the old tired milking patter that he was in for three years when he head the World Boxing Council title. For a long three years, Berto fought soft opposition until finally stepping it up to fight Ortiz and lose. Berto probably won’t want to get back in the ring against Ortiz and risk losing his new title and finding himself possibly on the outs with HBO. They’ll stomach one loss to Ortiz and still continue to show Berto’s fights, but two losses? I can’t see HBO still footing the bill to show Berto’s bouts after another loss.
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