Ron Borges - ""Ortiz Tried To Butt Mayweather's Teeth Down His Throat"

Mayweather assault well-timed By Ron Borges

Monday, September 19, 2011 -
LAS VEGAS — When they say “Time in,” in boxing

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, they really mean it.

They don’t mean it’s time to shake hands. They mean it’s time to throw hands, which is exactly what

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Mayweather

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did Saturday night.

For those who think Mayweather was somehow out of line for twice punching unsuspecting but far from innocent Victor Ortiz in the face so fast in the fourth round that Ortiz went to sleep before he hit the canvas, consider this: Referee Joe Cortez turned to the timekeeper at ringside and said, “Time in.” After which Mayweather, with his hands, said, “Lights out.”

For Ortiz to reach out and try to embrace Mayweather for a second time as he did then after only moments earlier trying to butt his teeth down his opponent’s throat is like warring sides saying a cease fire has ended and then complaining that someone is shooting. The armistice had ended at the MGM Grand the moment Cortez said, “Time in,” after deducting a point from Ortiz for his third head butt in less than four rounds.

“Joe pointed to the timekeeper and said, ‘Time in,’ ” Keith Kizer, executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, said after Ortiz was counted out at 2:59 of the round to surrender his WBC welterweight title to Mayweather. “At that point, the fight is back on and they’re free to punch each other. Joe had them separated, but Victor went to hug him four separate times. But the referee said, ‘Time in,’ and Floyd Mayweather threw a perfectly legal punch. I have no idea why Victor kept trying to hug him or embrace him. I guess he was feeling guilty because of the head butt, but hey, you’re in a fight. Fight and then feel guilty later.”

Mayweather was guilty of possessing nothing except a level of skill and talent so rare that Ortiz had no idea how to combat it. That’s why Ortiz tried three times to butt Mayweather before finally connecting, perhaps realizing his hands weren’t doing him much good so why not go for a blunt object. He did, landing the head butt with Mayweather pinned on the ropes but slipping nearly all the punches Ortiz was throwing.

Frustrated by being unable to find Mayweather and by repeatedly being hit by lead rights that normally only land on amateurs, Ortiz’ mind began to unravel until he lost complete control of himself both when he billy-goated Mayweather and when he turned so sorrowful for this illegal act he couldn’t stop apologizing even once the fight restarted. By that juncture, Mayweather had easily won the first three rounds and was landing ever more flush shots to a weakening Ortiz, whose legs buckled in the third round and whose mind did the same in the fourth.

Mayweather soon after put Ortiz out of his misery with a left hook and straight right to the kisser as Ortiz looked at the referee. Cortez too seemed shocked, shocked that Ortiz forgot to defend himself.

“He wants to do me dirty and now we’re friends?” Mayweather (42-0, 26 KO), the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, said of Ortiz both hugging and kissing him on the cheek after first striking him in the face with the crown of his head. “My mouth got all busted up inside from head butts. But it’s boxing. Stuff happens. You gotta protect yourself.”

There seem to be few ways to protect yourself from Mayweather, who won his seventh title in his fifth weight class by stopping Ortiz (29-3-2, 22 KO). Mayweather overwhelmed Ortiz from the opening bell, time after time connecting with lead rights Ortiz was unable to block because he didn’t see them coming until they’d already landed.

Mayweather’s defense is the old-school shoulder roll of Archie Moore combined reaction time so fast he can stand in the pocket and seldom be hit. The few times the heavy-handed Ortiz did land a shot, Mayweather stood unaffected. Ortiz broke down, his circuits blew out and he lost control of Mayweather, of himself — and lastly of his mind.

“I fouled Floyd and I apologized to him in the ring and after the fight,” Ortiz said. “It happened in the heat of the moment. In a sense it was a payback. I agree and disagree (with that), I guess. It was kind of unfair to some.”

Only to Mayweather haters, of which there are many, or to people who simply don’t understand that boxing is legalized assault and battery. Once the referee says “Time in,” let the assault and battery begin.

Although Ortiz’ manager, Rolando Arellano, said he would review tape before deciding whether or not to appeal, even he admitted, “He did something wrong. He paid the price for it.”

Victor Ortiz did do something wrong and he paid for it. He thought he belonged in the same ring with Floyd Mayweather.