No Money Down

A lot of controversy has brewed up since the upsetting finish to Saturday’s big title fight between Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. and Victor Ortiz, who is yet to earn a significant nickname. Controversy tends to follow the hard to like yet oddly entertaining specimen that is Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. but in this case it was certainly not warranted.

For those of you who don’t know how it went down: After an uneventful first two rounds, Mayweather dominated the third and fourth, landing punches at will. Suddenly in the late fourth round, Ortiz jabbed Mayweather into the ropes and had a chance to do some damage, but instead lunged at Mayweather with a blatantly intentional headbutt. It was unclear how well he caught Floyd with his forehead, but he sure did piss him off.

When the ref resumed the fight, Ortiz went to hug Mayweather to make up, but Money was not having it. Mayweather looked aggressive and eager to take out the guy who just did him wrong. He nodded his head, as if to say, “we’re good, let’s fight”.

Still, Ortiz was determined to get his hug, but Mayweather tapped his gloves and put his fists up. After having his hug attempt rejected, Ortiz stood in front of Mayweather for a second or two and left his hands down. Mayweather waited a very short moment for Victor to protect himself, but instead Ortiz kept him arms down at his waist, Mayweather landed his hardest left-right combination and Ortiz was down for the count.

To the untrained eye, this looks really bad for Mayweather, who has a bad rep outside the ring, but has never been labeled a dirty fighter in any way. But to the eye that has brains (as Homer Simpson once put it), Ortiz did everything wrong, throwing a dirty headbutt, then leaving himself unprotected, and Mayweather did everything right, fighting hard and fighting smart from the start, and continuing the box until his opponent was knocked out.

Think about it from Mayweather’s perspective: He has an undefeated record to protect that he is very proud of (now 42-0). He’s one of the two best and most famous boxers in the world, while no one who doesn’t have HBO to watch 24/7 knew what Victor Ortiz looked like until Saturday night. Also, Mayweather doesn’t do things like headbutt his opponent while he’s in the corner, or try to unofficially pause the match to hug the guy he just headbutted. He boxes, and he boxes hard until he beats his opponent. He’s done it 42 times and the last was no exception. If Ortiz had really been eager to continue fighting Mayweather, he would have done so instead of headbutting and hugging him.

Even after Ortiz survived his knockout, he was still smiling at Floyd and trying to hug him again and he didn’t seem to have any complaints about the fight. It was as if he was saying “I’m just proud to have been in the ring with you.”

Some people will tell you that headbutting happens in boxing matches. But this was no Evander Holyfield, hands close to the head, getting in tight, willing but not trying headbutt. This was a full on arms down, headfirst lunge to the face, a much less frequent occurrence. A boxer getting knocked down while trying to hug his opponent is even less frequent, but I think that’s because most guys settle for a simple glove tap before resuming the fight and never stand in front of their opponent with their hands down.

What was Ortiz doing trying to hug Money anyways? If he’s going to take a cheap shot and try to phase Mayweather, sacrificing a point in the process, I would think he would do it to try to get in his head (no pun intended). When a pitcher gives a hitter a little chin music to send a message, he doesn’t pause the game and go to hug the hitter and apologize. He puts his glove out to get the ball back, looks the hitter in the eye with a straight face, and gets set to throw his next pitch.

Floyd came to fight, Victor came to hug and kiss. Floyd dominated the fight while it lasted, and headbutting in a boxing match is a lot dirtier than boxing in a boxing match. Victor, keep your fists up and do your job. Always put your money on Money.

What we've all been waiting for...

Me and every other boxing fan in America (all nine of us) want to think Mayweather’s return means we’ll soon see the much anticipated mega-fight between Mayweather and great boxer turned terrible singer, Manny Pacquiao. Last March I placed the majority of the blame on Team Pacquiao for ducking the fight when Pac refused to draw blood in Mayweather’s effort to make sure the boxing was clean. While I’ll admit it was a bit of a slippery move by Mayweather, I do think he was willing to fight Pac at the time, and I do think he had some reason to believe that Pac was dirty. By allowing his blood to be tested before the fight, He could have proven Mayweather wrong and sealed up the fight of the decade.

A lot has gone down since then; when Money was ready Pac backed out, when Pac was ready, Money backed out. Both camps have to take some responsibility for avoiding this fight. But behind all of the dodging and finger-pointing, I think both sides have been intentionally dragging this out as much as possible to make this fight even more epic and bring in even more viewers and money. That was cute for a while, but it has been so long, if it doesn’t happen soon, it will lose its gusto. My concern is that the two best boxers in the world won’t fight until they are both past their prime, or one of them loses to a lesser fighter who caught them with a lucky punch, taking away the allure of two boxers who can’t lose to anyone else.

Pacquiao has a rematch with Juan Manuel Marquez on November 12, which I expect him to win. I also expect Mayweather to schedule one more fight shortly after November 12, potentially leading to an early 2012 fight with Pacquiao.

If these guys don’t get together after their next match, it’ll be pretty clear that they just don’t want to, which would be a devastating blow to a sport that is already struggling to survive.

Whether they like it or not, the future of boxing is in the hands Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. and Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao. They are responsible to give the fans what they want and bring the excitement back to the sport that has made them very rich and successful. Get in the ring guys. If you’re not going to do it for your own legacies, or your own bank account, do it for the sport of boxing and the fans that are the reason Floyd Mayweather Jr. is “Philthy Rich” and Manny Pacquiao has a seat in congress in the Phillipines.