By Babatis Banda: After having stayed away from the ring for one and a half years, Floyd Mayweather Jr. (42-0, 26 KO’s) picked the best there was in WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz (29-3-2, 22 KO’s) last night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Victor being a young champion, a known hard hitter and coming off a big win against unbeaten Andre Berto, he was rumored to be the anointed one to take out Floyd Mayweather, because he has literally knocked down all the opponents he has faced before. We were also told that Victor had at some point, given Manny Pacquiao problems in training, as if to say, Manny was the measure. All the Floyd haters talked about Victor’s power, speed and physic and the fact that Victor was bigger than Floyd, as the reason why he was going to beat Floyd. All Floyd haters must be chocking with anger that this did not happen.
Floyd/Ortiz
From the first round, it was evident that Floyd was a man on a mission. Ortiz realized early that Floyd was in a different class as he could not land his power shots.
Instead, we saw the vicious young warrior being backed off through-out. As usual, Floyd was crisp fast, and deadly accurate. We saw Floyd land, one after the other, a strong demoralizing lead right…a clear antidote for any left-hander. Whoever says Floyd is not a hard hitter must think again. We saw in the Ortiz and the Sugar bouts that he is dangerously fast and powerful. Floyd’s defence was as water tight as it can get. This is an important factor because, if you can’t hit your opponent, you simply cannot win. On a number of occasions, Victor tried hard to stage an attack, but most of the punches were smothered on Floyd’s arms and no effect at all. It seemed that Ortiz was destined for serious punishment had the fight progressed beyond the fourth round. At this point, you could count on one hand, how many times Victor had landed with any significance.
The controversy
With due respect to my fellow boxing lovers, all those that are crying wolf about the manner the bout ended, ought to be ashamed of themselves. If there is anything controversial about that fourth round, it must be the clear, embarrassing and deliberate head butt by Ortiz. In fact, watch that fight again and closely, you will notice that it was not the first time Ortiz had attempted to use his head as a fighting weapon. Surely, hate must never override objectivity. Floyd had already bagged three rounds, and was starting to tee-off, the Gatti style, when Ortiz realized that his fists were not enough to do the job.
I am wondering why some quarters are crying out the loudest when Victor himself did not protest. It was actually a blessing that it ended this way for Victor, less punishment and with some millions of dollars. The rules of boxing, which are strongly emphasized even by the referees is that you must protect yourself at all times. Ortiz should have learnt this by watching Floyd Versus Sugar. Here again, Sugar was punished for ‘sleeping on duty’ after fouling Floyd.
Floyd haters, please let the hate go. Let it loose lest you choke with envy and sadness. This was a clear warning to Manny…no body is skilled enough against Floyd. All are just average in his eyes, power or no power. This fight sets the stage for a Floyd/Manny clash, as usual we will hear the ranting, the insults and the attempt to play down Floyd’s greatness, but it is impossible to love Floyd, for as long as he continues to humiliate and punish your loved and favourite boxers.
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