The welterweight bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Victor Ortiz produced the expected result. Money Mayweather knocked out Ortiz.
Now, the way that Ortiz ended up on the canvas was certainly not how anyone expected. In the fourth round, Mayweather floored Ortiz with a right that, to some eyes, looked like a sucker punch.
An illegal headbutt to Mayweather by Oritz caused a momentary pause in the action in the fourth. Ortiz approached Mayweather, gloves lowered, to apologize for the headbutt -- despite the fact that it certainly appeared to be intentional. With Ortiz's guard down immediately after he proffered his apology, Mayweather struck with a quick left. Ortiz, already backing up when that blow landed, was stunned. Mayweather then wound up for, and subsequently landed, a devastating right that sent Ortiz to the canvas.
"We touched gloves and we were back to fighting and then I threw the left and right hand after the break," Mayweather told reporters after the fight. "In the ring you have to protect yourself at all times."
After the fight, Mayweather was approached by highly decorated 80-year-old boxing analyst Larry Merchant. True to his no holds barred style, Merchant was not bashful about asking Mayweather about the controversial knockout. Mayweather did not appreciate the line of questioning and went off on a tirade against Merchant while HBO cameras continued to roll. Finally, the pay-per-view audience was getting its money's worth.
“You never give me a fair shake, alright, so I am going to do you a favor and let you talk to Victor Ortiz," said Mayweather. 'You never give me a fair shake. You are shit and HBO should fire you. You don’t know shit about boxing. You ain’t shit.”
Merchant quickly snapped back at Mayweather, “I wish I was 50 years younger. I would have kicked your ass.”
WARNING VIDEO CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE
To his credit, Merchant would concede later in the broadcast that likely wouldn't have whooped Mayweather even when he was 30 years old.
Noting that Merchant didn't seem to backdown from the much younger and far more fight-ready Mayweather, it might not come as a surprise that this isn't the first time that Merchant has found himself embroiled in post-fight fistacuffs. It's also not the first time that Mayweather has been taken issue with his questions during during a post-fight interview.
Of course, it's entirely possible that this entire Merchant kerfuffle was orchestrated by Mayweather to briefly distract from questions of the fight that he should be taking.
Andrew Siciliano If given the option, Mayweather would fight Larry Merchant over Manny Pacquiao.