CUERUS No 182

Pantera Combat Zone

“Ripping into the core of the fight scene”

Floyd “Money” Mayweather vs. “Vicious” Victor Ortiz

By Robert Ramos


On Saturday, September 17, 2011, HBO will showcase the highly anticipated Floyd Money Mayweather Jr. vs. Vicious Victor Ortiz clash. In this setting, is where Ortiz will defend his recently won WBC lightweight championship belt.

Ortiz recently took that WBC belt away from Andre Berto during their battle on April of 2011, which could be considered for fight of the year honors. Ortiz won by unanimous decision and quieted many boxing critics who believed that Ortiz had no heart, since he basically quit in the 6th round during his war back on June of 2009 vs. Marco Maidana. After dropping Marco Maidana twice early in the fight, the hard headed Maidana quickly recovered and came back with an onslaught of his own which created a wide gaping cut over Ortiz’s right eye. After being knocked down and wounded with the nasty cut, Ortiz looked towards the referee and shook his head that he wanted no more and the referee agreed that Ortiz had enough and waved the fight off and Maidana won by 6th round TKO.

Immediately after the fight HBO commentator Max Kellerman, boxing critics and fight fans attacked Ortiz’s decision to quit and questioned his heart. At the post fight interview Ortiz responded that he wasn’t made to be taking this much punishment. This immediately gave everyone the impression that Ortiz was a heartless quitter; his response was more than self-condemning. Ortiz’s comments surprised everyone, because Ortiz had been considered a ruthless, up and coming young lion and future world champion.

Afterwards, Ortiz became depressed and went into self-seclusion and deeply regretted his critical, pitiful post fight statement. He had to make a choice, along with some major soul searching and finally decided to re-commit himself to train harder than ever, and used the negative criticism he brought upon himself as a motivator to regain his status as a world-class boxer. Since Ortiz’s return from the Maidana disaster, he has won all of his last 6 fights and knocked out 2 of those opponents. Having taken on well-known names, such as Vivian Harris, Lamont Peterson, Nate Campbell within the mix of his recent victories.

Even with a series of victories against tough competition, Andre Berto must have deemed Victor Ortiz an easy target. I believe he gave Ortiz a shot at his WBC lightweight belt, simply because he figured that Ortiz was shell shocked from the Maidana beating and was now only a broken, spiritless fighter. Berto took Ortiz lightly and unfortunately to Berto’s detriment, this proved to be a costly mistake. Ortiz had little, or nothing to lose and much to gain. During that fight Ortiz and Berto fought like rabid animals dropping each other during various rounds throughout the fight, but it was Ortiz who dug deep and hungered for redemption and much to everyone’s dismay, he was able to pull the trigger by finishing off stronger and almost knocking out the tired and worn out Berto during their last and final round.

Ortiz now faces Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. who has not fought for over 14 months, his last fight winning a UD against Shane Mosley. Many believe Mayweather has acquired too much ring rust, because he hasn’t actually fought world-class competition for so long; however, Mayweather is a well-known gym rat and has disproved many of his critics in the past. Being born into the sport by watching his father Floyd Mayweather Sr. and uncle Roger Mayweather train as they prepared for their professional boxing careers. Mayweather has been groomed to box since childhood, there is no doubt boxing is in his blood and he is also considered to be by many, the best the in his class.

The undefeated (W-41 + L-0) Floyd Mayweather Jr. a superb boxing technician in the ring who is always patient and takes no chances in the ring. Known for his hand speed and quick elusive style of head movement, he effectively avoids many of his opponent’s punches, while also having the power to knockout his opponents.

On the other hand, Ortiz now with a record of (W-29 + L-2) is well known for his balls out style of willing his way into victory with vicious power shots that always seem to carry bad intentions, but also is a high risk taker willing to trade shots in the process, hence the Maidana and Berto wars. Does Ortiz have the strength to penetrate Mayweather seemingly impenetrable defense?

Does the older 32 year old future hall of famer “Money” Mayweather still have the speed, flashiness and ability to fight off the younger, bigger, stronger and even hungrier “Vicious” Ortiz? This fight has the makings of a Bull vs. Matador scenario, where the odds are that the bull loses, but we all know sometimes the bull gets lucky.