be competing in a prize fight on PPV, you should
do yourself a favor and get to the local sports bar
and check it out. These two have carried the sport of boxing now for the last decade and one day soon I do believe we will get a chance to see them face off.
Last night Floyd Mayweather returned to the MGM Grand Garden Arena first time since defeating Shane Mosley in that same building in May of last year. The Mosley fight was intriguing because Shane had some size and power on Mayweather and had a chance to land some punches that would have an impact. Instead of a great power vs skill matchup, Mosley did everything he could to just get through the fight and refused to fight an aggressive fight.
On September 17th, Victor Ortiz posed a similar, yet bigger challenge. Ortiz was a young lion. 24 years old with size on his side. Oritz on fight night weighed in almost 17 pounds heavier than Mayweather. If Ortiz could be aggressive, he might of had a chance to take the undefeated fighter off his feet. In fact Ortiz had put every opponent before tonight on the ground at least once in every single one of his fights.
I invited some friends to the bar to check out the fight and when it started I got excited. Although the experts were saying that Mayweather had the better skills and was picking apart Ortiz in the fight, the reality was that Ortiz was landing shots and was being aggressive. This fight had so much potential. Because Ortiz had what they call "a fighters chance." He wasn't going to win on points, but a KO or TKO was a possibility.
Joe Cortez, who wasn't even paying attention counted to 10 and called an end to the fight. Ortiz that looked like he was frustrating the undefeated champion lost the match because he didn't protect himself for the shot that Mayweather landed. The problem I have in this ending doesn't sit with Mayweather. I felt last night that Ortiz was lucky that he wasn't just DQed for that headbutt because it was so intentional. I felt that Ortiz showed his youth when he trusted he could get a clean break after hitting his opponent with that headbutt.
Once you move past that, and a question that still hasn't been commented on is why was Joe Cortez counting to 10? He never called time in after he called time out to deduct the point from the headbutt. I felt this was an illegal punch from Mayweather that would give Ortiz up to 5 minutes to recover from the blow.
At the end of the day Floyd Mayweather adds another belt to his waist, and we ask where do we go from here? A rematch is already being talked about, but everyone on this planet has been waiting almost three years for a Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao match. A rematch with Ortiz would put that fight with Manny back on hold. Pacquiao has stated that if they don't get the fight done in 2012 it won't happen due to his desire to run for executive office in 2013.
11-12-2011 will see the third meeting between one of Pacquiao's biggest rivals in Juan Manuel Marquez. The first match in 2004 saw both men go to a draw. The rematch in 2008 saw Manny win via split decision. Marquez might just be the only guy who has the courage to step in the ring with Pac Man and get a victory.
