By Jason Kim: ESPN writer Dan Rafael thinks Victor Ortiz (29-3-2, 22 KO’s) got what he deserved against Floyd Mayweather Jr. (42-0, 26 KO’s) last night in Mayweather’s 4th round TKO win in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Rafael didn’t see anything illegal from Mayweather when he hit a defenseless Ortiz, who had his hands down by his sides after hugging Mayweather to make up for headbutting him.
Rafael said in an interview at ESPN: “What he [Ortiz] did resulted in what happened to him.He kind of got what he deserved. I don’t think Floyd did anything dirty. Joe Cortez [the referee], even if he was looking at the fighters, wouldn’t have been able to stop Mayweather from throwing a combination. It’s up to Victor to protect himself at all times.”
It may be true that Ortiz should have kept his guard up at all times, but there are times in the fight when fighters aren’t expecting to get hit, and one of those times is when they are hugging to say their sorry for something they’ve done. It would look kind of strange to hug with one arm while keeping a guard up.
There is such a thing as sportsmanship in the sport, and Ortiz put his trust in Mayweather that he wouldn’t open up on him when he put his guard down to hug him. It may be legal because Cortez restarted the fight, but Mayweather seemed to take advantage of Ortiz at the moment he was trying to say he was sorry and that really made Mayweather look bad. I know he wants to win and all, but I’m sure he probably doesn’t feel too good about how the fight ended. Mayweather would have received a lot more credit if he had just held back at that moment and let Ortiz put his guard up so that the fight could restart normally.
Mayweather was winning the fight, but Ortiz seemed to be coming on in the 4th round just before he headbutted Mayweather. We’ll never really know what would have happened because there was so much of the fight still left in front of the two fighters. Ortiz was really lighting up Mayweather in the 4th with some monstrous shots and if he could have kept this up for another 8 rounds, Ortiz could have worn Mayweather out and gotten a stoppage win. This wasn’t a mismatch like Mayweather’s other fights.
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