If it had been the other way round..

My thoughts on the Mayweather-Ortiz ending.

First of all, let me state that I am neither a fan of hypejob Victor Ortiz or Floyd Mayweather (though I respect his skills). So I have a pretty neutral view on this.

Had it been the other way round - had Mayweather done something illegal (intenionally or unintentionally) and hugged his opponent in excuse for it, and had Ortiz then knocked him out with those cheap shots, I think the boxing world would be much more in uproar than it is now. Sure, all the Floyd-haters (and there are many of them) would have jubilated, but the serious boxing media and 'experts' would all have discredited the win. They'd say that Ortiz only won because he suckerpunched Mayweather, that it wasn't a valid win. And they would be totally right. But here come the double standards. Because Mayweather was the big favourite and well on his way to kick Ortiz butt anyway, this foul play seems to be accepted by most. 'Protect yourself at all times', well tough luck Ortiz... But calling a spade a spade, this wasn't right, and it was as unsportsmanlike as it can get. And Ortiz was the champ in this bout, not Mayweather, even if that may be quite irrelevant here. Mayweather has at least always stayed classy in the ring regardless of what he does outside of it, and I respected that, but that seems to be over now too.

You can say that Ortiz got what he deserved, because he initiated the foul play (and I am not excusing him or downplaying his actions in any way). You can also say that Mayweather did nothing illegal if you go purely by the book. What I say is that Floyd cheated us fans by getting himself a cheap KO 'victory' , and that he would have won this far more impressively and fairly if he wanted to. He didn't need those cheap shots.

Floyd likes to talk about cleaning up boxing, making it an honourable sport again, and so on - well, this isn't the way to do it...

 

it's still a sport where sportsmanlike behaviour should be valuated. That's my view on it. You don't hit a guy who just hugged you in excuse. Regardless if he started the foul play (and got penalized for it). That's just not right.

Boxing is not MMA.

 

Boxing is more than just a brutal sport, it's the sweet science. At any rate it's a sport, so sportsmanship should count. I know there's a lot of foul play in our sport, both in and outside the ring, but it shouldn't be that way. Personally, I don't watch boxing to see people get hurt, though I enjoy a nice KO at times. I rather want to see fights on a high technical level than a brutal 'entertaining' war. That's why I always liked to watch Floyd Mayweather in the ring, nice clean boxing in the true sense of the word.

MMA to me is not a sport, it's just entertainment, sort of like a modern gladiator fight. Though I admit that the MMA performers are skilled too and real athletes and fighters.

 

If it had been the other way round , you and many others here would be hollering about this being foul play.

 

I love Duran but he wouldn't get a pass from me if he did this. I feel that many give Floyd a pass for it. Ortiz wouldn't have gotten a pass for it (except by the Floyd-haters maybe).