Open letter to nevada state athletic commission

To Whom It May Concern:

I have just finished watching the WBC Welterweight Championship fight between "Vicious" Victor Ortiz and Floyd "Money" Mayweather held earlier this evening at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. I must say that in over twenty years of watching boxing, I have never witnessed such an outlandish spectacle as what occurred tonight. Mr. Mayweather was granted a fourth round knock-out victory over Mr. Ortiz by referee Joe Cortez based upon two "sucker" punches delivered by Mr. Mayweather while Mr. Ortiz was attempting to apologize for a foul that Mr. Ortiz had just committed and they appear to have occurred while Mr. Cortez was not looking.

As a replay of the pay-per-view broadcast will show, after committing what is ruled presumably as an intentional headbutt against Mr. Mayweather by Mr. Ortiz in the fourth round near Mr. Mayweather's corner, Mr. Cortez pulls the fighters apart and immediately calls a halt to the action and waives to the timekeeper to pause, taking his eyes off of the fighters, so unaware of where the fighters are that he completes an entire clockwise rotation to locate them. At this point, Mr. Ortiz has approached Mr. Mayweather, who is still against the ropes near his corner, and utters something and then gives Mr. Mayweather a hug and a kiss. Mr. Cortez then breaks them apart again and leads Mr. Ortiz to the center of the ring, holding Mr. Ortiz's right arm, and signals to the various judges that he is taking one point away. When this occurs, Mr. Cortez has not uttered a word to Mr. Mayweather nor instructed him to stand in a neutral corner. As Mr. Cortez is taking the point away, Mr. Mayweather then leaves his corner and is clearly seen by Mr. Cortez walking toward a neutral corner. Upon Mr. Cortez's last announcement that he is taking away one point for the headbutt, he leads Mr. Ortiz to the opposite neutral corner that Mr. Mayweather is now standing in, admonishing Mr. Ortiz to not foul again.

At this point, Mr. Cortez heads to the middle of the ring, his back toward Mr. Mayweather and facing Mr. Ortiz, motioning the fighters together, and says, "Let's go!" However, a split second after he says this, Mr. Cortez takes his eyes off of the fighters as they approach one another and looks to his right toward, presumably, the timekeeper to indicate the resumption of the clock. However, a split second after that, Mr. Cortez then looks to his left toward Mr. Ortiz, who is by now within arms length of Mr. Mayweather, and whose arms are extended in a show of apology. And yet a split second after that, unexplicably, Mr. Cortez shifts his entire body toward and again looks to his right in the direction of the timekeeper, points and utters something to him. Meanwhile, the fighters have closed the distance and Mr. Ortiz has leaned into Mr. Mayweather to give him a hug while looking to his right. Mr. Mayweather appears to have his arms extended as if he was going to accept it. Mr. Cortez is still staring at the timekeeper. Mr. Ortiz then lowers his arms and is taking a step backward. Mr. Cortez now seems to be aware of something occurring between the fighters because he shifts his body as if avoiding them, but he is still seemingly looking at the timekeeper when Mr. Mayweather then suddenly unleashes a left hook. It appears that Mr. Cortez is aware of this first punch because he visibly flinches. However it also seems apparent that his eyes are seemingly still focused on the timekeeper or something else as that first punch lands. After the first punch lands, Mr. Ortiz turns to look at Mr. Cortez and it doesn't seem clear what Mr. Cortez is looking at at that moment. A split second later, Mr. Mayweather lands a straight right hand on the defenseless Mr. Ortiz, who falls backwards into his corner. It seemingly appears that Mr. Cortez's eyes aren't even focused on the fighters when Mr. Mayweather lands the second punch. It is only then that it seemingly appears that Mr. Cortez has eyes on the fighters. After what appears to be momentary consultation with someone at ringside, Mr. Cortez starts the count and the rest is history.

The entire sequence of events described above from the moment that Mr. Cortez said "Let's go!" until the landing of the last punch was approximately 6 to 7 seconds. 6 to 7 seconds have transpired where Mr. Cortez has seemingly not had eyes on a fight that he has motioned and verbally called to continue.

Well aware that boxing in general has garnered a notorious reputation over the years, it is with great disappointment that boxing events have devolved into what I and many others have just witnessed as pay-per-view customers of tonight's event. Whether or not the Nevada State Athletic Commission receives any of the proceeds of any given pay-per-view boxing production held in Nevada locales, I nevertheless would like to voice my opinion that the Nevada State Athletic Commission should investigate such seriously questionable officiating and events such as tonight's to ensure the integrity of this sport, at least in its jurisdiction. In these lean times, the Nevada State Athletic Commission would best be reminded that in a jurisdiction where entertainment is of such economic prominence, the integrity of such entertainment must be ensured to guarantee that fans and customers keep coming back.