Your Thoughts/Opinions/Observations And The Like On Mayweather-Ortiz?

I thought we'd see an awful lot of threads flooding this place what with the ''controversy'' that will undoubtedly plague one of the most bizarre boxing events in recent memory, perhaps most just didn't bother staying up until five in the morning and we'll see them when everyone catches up.:yep

Anyways, what did you make of it? Anything, Mayweather, Ortiz, Cortez, Merchant and anyone else who was in some way involved, there's certainly a lot of talking points that have arisen from a bout that only went three rounds.

I'll get the ball rolling.............

The Stoppage

• It was legitimate.

- When the referee tells you to box on, whether he's looking at you or not is irrelevant, the general consensus seems to be that he told them to continue, therefore is Ortiz's own fault for hugging and not punching/blocking.

• Mayweather was ruthless.

- A lot of people claimed that Mayweather lacks that killer instinct when it comes to smelling blood and finishing a guy off(Marquez fight being a prime example, Mosley to a lesser extent), which may be the case when lesser opportunities are presented to him, but that finish was brutal. Ortiz may not have been protecting himself, but Mayweather showed that when he knows he can take a guy out, he will.



Floyd Mayweather

• His reflexes seemed off.

- I don't know what Duke McKenzie was on about, but I think Khan was spot on, Mayweather got caught on a good few occasions. I found that odd really, I know he's a slow starter, but he's never had much difficulty evading the kind of uneducated attacks the likes of which Ortiz initiated before. Ortiz looked almost like a worse version of Phillip N'dou when he went on the offensive, and Mayweather was, with regularity, ducking into punches flung at him by Victor, the kind of shots that would've never landed on him before.

• His timing seemed off.

- An abundance of examples of this, how many times did he lead with the right hand, with Ortiz showing absolutely zero defensive wherewithall, and miss by a country mile? Too many times in my opinion, Victor was often standing there, static, with his guard being held in the same way it was when Berto et all penetrated it with ease, and Floyd was throwing right hands either side of the guard without really coming close to landing at all. These are shots he was landing from the get go in his two most recent outings, his timing seemed way off.

• I'm beginning to waver in relation to Pacquiao.

- I don't want to make the thread all about Mayweather-Pacquiao, so I'm just going to be brief and say it's made me question my prediction of a Mayweather victory. Pacquiao's already got the stance, footwork, and ability to punch with Floyd to make it a fight that's close anyways, but I didn't particularly like what I saw from Mayweather against one so limited last night, and Manny could exploit the above to points as well as implement his own strengths to give Mayweather hell. If I were Freddie Roach I'd be rubbing my hands with almost glee upon watching that.

• Still a ****, albeit correct about Merchant.

- I generally don't care about a fighters persona out of the ring, and I still don't, but he's clearly a bit of an twat. He was correct about Merchant though, who's interviews with him are clearly designed to get a bit of a rise out of Floyd. He certainly acheived that, as even in realising that this was the case Floyd still fell into the trap and was oblivious to it, it's like the non-fighting equivilant of Hatton knowing Pacquiao would look for the right hook while ducking under the lead, but still walking face-first into it.

Victor Ortiz

• Lacks a fighters' mentality.

- It's a bit of a cliched term, but not only is it relevant in the case of Oritz, it's blatant, and something that's been evident for quite a while. I can't comprehend what could've been going on in his mind when he heatbutted Mayweather, my only guess is that he was frutrated that, unlike when he fought fighters who are poor(being generous there) defensively such as Berto and Maidana, he couldn't land every time he launched an attack on Floyd, and he couldn't handle it. Was he looking for a way out? I have no idea, all I know is that I'll never know what to expect whenever Ortiz fights.

• Hasn't improved/Limitations still obvious.

- Still the same fighter from the Berto fight really. Doesn't throw any jab at all to initiate his bursts of aggression, is terribly lacking in balance as soon as he gets into close range and is pretty bad defensively. His enthusiastic and raw onslaughts gave Mayweather some difficultly early(well, he won a round anyways) but one can only assume that he would have been figured out extremely quickly even by a Mayweather who, in my opinion, was rather sloppy(judging only off three rounds of course, but when you compare it to the first three of his previous fights, even the Mosley one, I thought he looked a liitle ''off'')

• Boxing doesn't seem to be his ''thing''.

- It seems to me that boxing for him is really just a means of making money, as aside from proving the doubters wrong, he has no real drive to be the top fighter he, in my opinion, has the ability to become. In the build-up, he seemed to be more focused on surfing and giving pep-talks to children rather than having his mind solely focused on the biggest moment of his pugilistic career. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think he has a love for boxing, even his post fight interview suggests that.

Joe Cortez

• Technically, did nothing wrong, though still obviously indecisive.

- He did tell them to box on as far as I could tell, but come on. Why on earth he told them to fight, only to have a conversation with the timekeeper is beyond me. Ortiz's team could take issue with the fact that he didn't appear to tell the timekeeper to start the clock again, but it would be a frivilous protest really. Truth is, the fight is now plagued in confusion because Cortez allowed it to be, he even looked clueless as to what was transpiring in front of his eyes when Ortiz had hit the canvas. I have no idea how him and Arthur Mercante Jr are still rewarded with being referees at all, much less officiating big events.

Larry Merchant

• What a Scouser.

- The only thing he could be critisised for I think is the fact he does obviously attempt to rile Mayweather to an extent, of course the counter-arguement to that could be the fact that Floyd isn't exactly the most able interviewee. Most think he didn't do anything gravely wrong in the ring, yet he pretty much avoided Merchant's question when it was relatively easy to defend himself. Merchant's got an opinion, and he can always back his opinion up for the most part, that he's been told by three different fighters what I'm sure he already knows, that he hasn't boxed, is a moot point, as in no way does that equate to him knowing nothing about the sport. He knows more than most, and he's good for the sport.

All merely my opinion of course, what did you make of the crazy events of last night/this morning, and the individuals that contributed to it?

 

Go to 00:56, clear as day. Cortez re-commences the fight.


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