Mayweather Jr. remains unbeaten, KOs Ortiz

[Walter Cronkite]

In just one round, Floyd Mayweather Jr. got a head butt, a kiss and a hug from Victor Ortiz.

He responded with a right hand that ended a bizarre fight early.

Mayweather remained unbeaten and did it in emphatic fashion Saturday night, stopping Ortiz at 2:59 of the fourth round to take the piece of the welterweight title Ortiz brought into the ring.

The end came just as the two fighters emerged from a break, in which Ortiz had embraced Mayweather in the center of the ring. As they broke, Mayweather shot out a left hand and followed it with a right that put Ortiz down in his corner.

Ortiz struggled to get up as referee Joe Cortez called an end to the fight.

"We touched gloves and we were back to fighting and then I threw the left and right hand after the break," Mayweather said. "In the ring you have to protect yourself at all times."

The round was already controversial, as Ortiz appeared to head butt Mayweather intentionally, leading Cortez to take a point away from him. After the head butt, Ortiz went to Mayweather and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Seconds later they were in the center of the ring ready to resume action when two punches ended it quickly.

"I took the break by the referee and I obeyed exactly as I was told," Ortiz said. "And then, boom, he blindsided me."

Mayweather was winning the fight through three rounds, dominating with speed and landing good right hands to the head of Ortiz. He won all three rounds on two ringside scorecards, and two of three on the third.

Ortiz picked up the pace in the fourth round, trying desperately to get inside Mayweather's vaunted defense. He did on occasion and was having a better round when, late in the round, he appeared to intentionally head butt Mayweather in frustration as the two fought in Mayweather's corner.

"He did something dirty when it was his corner who said I was dirty," Mayweather said. "But I won the fight."

Mayweather later engaged in a verbal confrontation with HBO announcer Larry Merchant, calling him a name at one point and drawing a pointed response from the 80-year-old broadcaster, who said he would thrash the boxer if he "was 50 years younger."

While Ortiz claimed he was caught by a punch that came before Cortez ruled the fighters to continue, the referee said Mayweather did nothing wrong.

"Time was in, the fighter needed to keep his guard up. Mayweather did nothing illegal," Cortez said.

Mayweather, a 5-1 favorite in the fight against a champion 10 years younger, had vowed to go right after Ortiz and give the fans who bought the pay-per-view card at home an exciting fight. He mostly delivered on that promise, landing some good right hands in the early rounds and winning exchanges with his quickness.

Ringside punch stats reflected his dominance, showing Mayweather landing 73 of 208 punches to just 26 of 148 for Ortiz. Mayweather consistently beat Ortiz to the punch, and his experience and hand speed appeared to be the difference.

But he hadn't really hurt Ortiz and took some punches himself in the fourth round as Ortiz seemed to rally before the head butt touched off the series of events that brought the fight to an end. Ortiz quickly apologized to Mayweather after the head butt, giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek while Cortez was busy taking a point away from him.

There was another quick hug in the center of the ring as action was about to resume, followed by the 1-2 combination by Mayweather that put Ortiz on his rear. Ortiz tried to get up, but was still on his knees when the fight was waved to a close.

"There's two ways to look at it but as far as I was concerned I came here to entertain the fans and I think they were entertained," Ortiz said. "There was a miscommunication with the referee but nobody is perfect and this was a learning experience."

Mayweather made a minimum of $25 million for his first fight in 16 months, a sum that will likely go up as the pay-per-view receipts are totaled. He could make even more against Manny Pacquiao next May should Pacquiao win his November fight with Juan Manuel Marquez and the two finally agree to fight.

Mayweather remained unbeaten in 42 fights, scoring the knockout he had predicted. Ortiz, who lost his 147-pound title, fell to 29-3-2.

Source: AP

[Kellie-Girl]

Cheap shot or not? How is it even a question. Ref wasn't looking (and may not have even restarted the action) the Ortiz was apoligizing and wasn't looking (was looking at the ref) and Floyd knocked him out. Cheap shot? No question about it. Hilarious? No question about it.

[Dead AIM]

haha what a hilarious ending ortiz such a loser kissing mayweather and then trying to hug him for like the 5th time is why he got knocked out mayweathers face when he got kissed was priceless. regardless of the ending mayweather was easily on his way to like a 10-2 decision cus there was nothing ortiz could do besides headbutt and mayweather was the most offensive ive seen him in years.i think he connected like 30 straight rights flush to ortiz's face and larry merchant finally got called out for being a drunk moron who is 100% biased.

also its very annoying to hear that mayweather pacquiao hasnt happened because of mayweather you people are morons... both sides have avoided this fight its equally pacs fault as it is mayweathers neither can agree on anything and the fact of the matter is that when the fight was as close to being made it was pacquiao who backed out first because of the drug testing and in the last 2 times that they tried to make it happen yes it has been more mayweather but it was like a signature away from being a fight and pacquiao not mayweather called it off so get ya facts straight and stop hating on floyd cus he wins and thats what he gets paid to do baby

[Gambit]

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Larry Merchant has balls.

[AndySMC]

Well, along with "women", it looks like you can add "guys with their hands down" to the list of people Mayweather likes to beat on.

And somehow, Floyd has managed to blow through all of his earnings from last night....but what's new?

[The Real]

Floyd Mayweather should have been disqualified in the fight Saturday night. In boxing, when the referee has called a timeout, you are not allowed to throw a punch until the referee has called time back in. As you could see, the referee was looking at the corner to restart the clock when Mayweather threw the two punches. The clock was not ticking; Floyd threw two punches that knocked out the other boxer who was not able to continue.

When a boxer throws punches when the referee has stopped the clock, that boxer should be disqualified. You will also notice that the fight was stopped at 2:59 in the 4th. If the referee would have started the clock after the initial point deduction, Floyd would have never had the chance to throw those two illegal punches.

On a side note, that was one of the most chicken ways to win a "prize fight." Protect yourself at all times, when the clock and the referee have called time in. You are not allowed to run the ball up the field in football during a timeout and score three touchdowns, which in most realities would result in a win. What Floyd did was the same thing. Punching someone during a timeout is not legal, and he should have been disqualified.