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getty images floyd mayweather who has never lost as a professional beat victor ortiz on saturday with a fourth-round knockout minute-by-minute analysis of the wbc welterweight title fight in las vegas between victor ortiz the reigning champion and floyd mayweather who has never lost a professional fight gordon marino provides ringside commentary sort by oldest newest o o 10:33 pm add a comment this fight between floyd money mayweather and victor vicious ortiz is for ortiz s wbc welterweight championship but that doesn t mean mayweather isn t the main attraction he s the biggest pay-per-view magnet in boxing today mayweather 41-0 25 knockouts is coming off a 16-month layoff so there will be questions about his timing and perhaps the 34-year-old unbeaten boxer s age in april the 24-year-old ortiz 29-2-2 22 knockouts dethroned andre berto in an action-packed bout that saw both combatants hitting the canvas at the weigh-in yesterday ortiz came in at the limit of 147 pounds and mayweather at 146 both fighters had 12 packs for abs paul rodriguez and kevin hart helped host the event at the mgm grand where thousands were in attendance on mexican independence day rodriguez was a riot you could see him getting pumped up before he went on stage and he woofed it up for ortiz while hart did the same for mayweather at one point rodriguez went off this is boxing a black guy fighting a latino in front of white guys who grade them the crowd howled who knows how much of weigh-in dramatics is theater but ortiz and mayweather went head-to-head in their stare down then ortiz started pushing grinding his head into mayweather as floyd mouthed off finally mayweather reached up and grabbed victor around the throat and they had to be separated ortiz turned to the crowd pretending to be shaking in fear and wiping away fake tears a woman next to me i don t know what the heck she was doing there observed how male and primitive the entire scene was you have the women in bikinis fights and two guys staring at each other like dogs or something we all know that mayweather is crazy as a fox he loves to work on his opponents psyches so you wonder if he is getting to ortiz at all i talked to one of ortiz s trainers this morning and he swore that ortiz was very relaxed he slept well last night and is ready to put some sleep into mayweather we ll soon see we ll see in just a little bit.

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p. 2

o o 10:41 pm add a comment yesterday was the anniversary of the epic battle between sugar ray leonard and tommy hearns it was a pitched war hearns is 6-foot-2 and had a punch that could immediately turn on the black lights he was downright scary you have to read sugar s recently published the big fight to get the full story but i asked sugar yesterday how he would have dealt with mayweather it would have been a boring fight he said i would have looked for a lot of angles there would have been a lot of clinches but we are not expecting that tonight everyone agrees that ortiz has to put the pressure on big time but to do so in a careful way because mayweather can hit and is an extraordinarily precise puncher who can put his opponent out in a flash o o 10:46 pm add a comment mayweather is certainly one of the best defensive fighters of all-time he can see punches coming from a mile away and even at 34 he remains hard to hit ortiz is a converted southpaw and so he jabs with his power hand his right he has a hard jab and a powerful right hook to the body but he can throw wide punches and if he is wide mayweather is not going to be there o o 11:01 pm add a comment the card s penultimate fight the one before mayweather-ortiz is about to start it s scheduled for 12 rounds but it s very possible that it only last three or four o o 11:07 pm add a comment actually in the last undercard fight there was already a knockdown it might end in the next round which means we re not far from mayweather and ortiz taking the ring o o 11:11 pm add a comment as for a mayweather-ortiz prediction i give ortiz a good shot but i think he is too easy to hit mayweather will stop him in 10 o o 11:15 pm add a comment referee joe cortez is giving instructions in the locker room to mayweather who s laughing and looking extremely relaxed o o 11:17 pm add a comment we re watching the gomez-alvarez fight from the staples center in los angeles on the big screen strange to watch a live fight and then go to close-circuit and then go back to live o o 11:18 pm add a comment

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p. 3

and now the referee is talking to ortiz danny garcia ortiz s head trainer tells cortez that they re worried about mayweather throwing elbows he assures ortiz that he ll be watching for that o o 11:22 pm add a comment the financial split in the mayweather-ortiz fight is pretty unusual from what i understand mayweather is guaranteed around $25 million and ortiz only a little over $2 million no wonder they call him money a lot of people say that s part of the reason we haven t seen mayweather-pacquiao yet both these fighters can make huge sums of money against fighters they can easily beat and you really get the impression that mayweather thinks he s going to have an easy night of it here o o 11:23 pm add a comment i bumped into the referee for the morales-cano fight which was brutal and at the same time masterful as you can imagine the ref told me that morales was just spectacular he said he had cano so off balance that he would fake right hook and then throw a left hook he was just absolutely amazed o o 11:24 pm add a comment by the way alvarez-gomez the last fight before mayweather-ortiz is now in the sixth round it can only go 12 o o 11:28 pm add a comment this fight between alvarez and gomez is huge because the boxing world thinks that alvarez is the sport s next superstar and the fight was just stopped in the 6th round alvarez by a knockout gomez put up a good fight for a time it seemed as if he was going to expose alvarez but then alvarez hit gomez with a tremendous uppercut and another flurry he lives on as the future o o 11:29 pm add a comment it looks like a full house here at the mgm grand it will be another 10-15 minutes before the main event gets going o o 11:30 pm add a comment you have to wonder what ortiz is thinking now he s never been on a huge stage like this it s a tipping point in his life as a boxer o o 11:32 pm add a comment ortiz is riding a six-fight winning streak but he s in with someone who has never known defeat in his professional career i spoke to hall-of-fame trainer angelo dundee today angelo trained 15 world champions including muhammad ali of course and he thinks ortiz just needs to fight his fight rough and tumble and hit mayweather everywhere elbows shoulders collarbone o 11:34 pm

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p. 4

o add a comment there s a pounding drumbeat and the energy is building in the arena in anticipation of the main event i wonder what manny pacquiao is thinking and where or whether he is watching o o 11:35 pm add a comment who needs mayweather or ortiz tommy hearns and sugar ray leonard were just announced as the crowd went wild o o 11:38 pm add a comment they re showing videos of the weigh-in and it was even rougher than i thought also some of the names in the house tonight kevin garnett jamie foxx 50 cent magic johnson and denzel washington the stars have come out for this one o o 11:39 pm add a comment there s a quiet pause as the energy builds up i just talked with the writer gary poole author of pacman a great read and he says pacquiao is very eager to meet mayweather in the ring but the pacman has to get past marquez first not to mention mayweather s obligation here with ortiz o o 11:40 pm add a comment and now mexico s national anthem o o 11:41 pm add a comment mayweather is warming up on the mitts with his uncle roger and victor is doing the same with his trainer danny garcia o o 11:41 pm add a comment a beautiful version of the mexican national anthem yesterday by the way was mexican independence day o o 11:41 pm add a comment and now for the star-spangled banner o o 11:44 pm add a comment both national anthems are over it used to be that the fighters would be in the ring when the anthems were sung not anymore.

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p. 5

o o 11:48 pm add a comment ortiz has his belts brought into the ring by his team ortiz is coming in first and that s odd because he s the champion to queen s we will rock you o o 11:48 pm add a comment here comes ortiz bouncing around the ring like a cat the crowd is chanting ortiz ortiz o o 11:48 pm add a comment now we re waiting for mayweather no doubt he ll keep ortiz standing in the ring as long as he can o o 11:49 pm add a comment and here comes the unbeaten mayweather in a hooded robe amidst both cheers and boos o o 11:49 pm add a comment now the crowd is chanting money money money that s for mayweather not the spectators bank accounts o o 11:51 pm add a comment mayweather s taking his time he s still not in the ring yet i d like to be behind ortiz s eyes right now i wonder what he s thinking also i wonder if he noticed 50 cent walking in o o 11:52 pm add a comment with the crowd still screaming money and still not clamoring for some extra weight in its collective wallet mayweather enters the ring he s wearing black trunks with orange stripes michael buffer is starting the announcements let s get ready to rumble o o 11:53 pm add a comment as buffer introduces him mayweather is bouncing around with a huge grin on his face as if he s about to laugh o o 11:55 pm add a comment

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p. 6

mayweather lives in las vegas so he has a big following here and he s an important part of the economy now buffer is announcing ortiz who s throwing kisses to the crowd he has his game face on o o o 11:55 pm start 1st round add a comment buffer let s get ready to rumble o o o 11:57 pm 1st round add a comment the fighters are in the center of the ring pawing jabs at each other mayweather misses with a right he looks fast ortiz is moving to his right mayweather lands a right to the body as though he wants to land a hard punch in this round and then mayweather lands another good right hand and them another pulling back as he throws ortiz lands a short right hook mayweather lands another another right hand ortiz shoots to the body and head but mayweather catches them ortiz keeps holding his hands high o o o 11:59 pm end 1st round add a comment mayweather misses with a right hand finally as ortiz fakes he s moving his head more now throwing a left but missing ortiz is digging at the body as mayweather lands a right ortiz starts moving to his right away from mayweather s right hand and misses with a combination while mayweather lands another right hand i give that round to money 10-9 o o o 0:02 am 2nd round add a comment center ring ortiz is moving around while the crowd buzzes ortiz shoots a left to the body he misses with the right while mayweather lands a left hook ortiz backs mayweather into a corner but misses with his shots mayweather misses with a right mayweather has ortiz backed into the corner and shoots a right but ortiz lands a right to the body looking more aggressive mayweather lands two rights and then another big one o o o 0:03 am end 2nd round add a comment ortiz lands a left to the head mayweather lands a right to the body mayweather lands another right and another right but it doesn t seem to be bothering ortiz then ortiz has mayweather on the ropes but mayweather lands another big right i give that round to mayweather though it was closer still the edge goes to floyd because of his right hand 20-18 for the man who hasn t lost o o o 0:06 am 3rd round add a comment ortiz needs to get even more aggressive he hasn t seemed to find a way to dodge mayweather s right hand speaking of mayweather is jabbing a little harder now ortiz lands a shot to the body as the crowd reacts ortiz is moving in and out quickly pawing mayweather comes forward missing with the right ortiz has to get busier so he shoots a left as mayweather moves in.

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p. 7

mayweather lands some jabs shooting another right hand and then a big right and then another ortiz seems frozen by that particular weapon of mayweather s o o o 0:07 am end 3rd round add a comment mayweather s shaking his head as ortiz punches he ends the round with two more good punches that one was his again 109 o o o 0:07 am start 4th round add a comment ortiz hasn t ever fought someone so skilled on this type of stage mayweather is paralyzing him o o o 0:10 am 4th round add a comment mayweather s getting much more active banging away with body shots the fight is getting rougher as they start fighting inside ortiz just got warned about using his head and mayweather is laughing yes this is still a fight mayweather lands a left hook ortiz has mayweather on the ropes and is talking to him hitting with his left but that upsets mayweather who responds with a right ortiz is fighting in close now that s what he needs to do he then lands a right hook to the head and mayweather s trying to shake it off and how about this the crowd is screaming for ortiz o o o 0:12 am 4th round knockout add a comment ortiz is backed against the ropes mayweather misses but then lands a right mayweather lands a short left hook and a right again ortiz has mayweather on the ropes and gets another warning for using his head ortiz just had a point deducted and is apologizing to mayweather apologizing ortiz went to hug mayweather and mayweather knocked ortiz down and out unbelievable it s over o o 0:12 am add a comment there s anger in the crowd ortiz is sitting on a stool looking very glassy eyed now mayweather goes to ortiz smiling o o 0:15 am add a comment i need to see the replay but ortiz was coming on when he head-butted mayweather then he went to hug him and mayweather hit him with a left hook ortiz looked to the left as if to say what is he doing and mayweather hit him with a right down the middle and knocked him out ortiz should have known better what mayweather did was legal but very ugly and mayweather was just announced the winner he remains undefeated o o 0:16 am add a comment

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p. 8

if mayweather s marketing genius really involves the good guy bad guy persona he certainly lived up to his bad-guy image tonight and by the way he did something similar to shane mosley in their fight o o 0:17 am add a comment mayweather is being interviewed by larry merchant with the crowd is booing madly meanwhile ortiz is standing up on the ropes smiling as the boos keep coming if the chairs weren t nailed down i have the feeling people would be throwing them by now o o 0:19 am add a comment mayweather is screaming at larry merchant i didn t hear what larry said but he must have told him off o o 0:23 am add a comment mayweather is leaving the ring accompanied by intense boos ortiz is leaving now shrugging and smiling as unsportmanslike as mayweather was in winning ortiz was not being professional in tapping gloves and backing away without his hands up -especially knowing mayweather s prior behavior o o 0:24 am add a comment it s going to be interesting to see what the fallout from this fight will be in terms of the matchup with pacquiao that is if we ever get to that either way this was a great disappointment o o 0:35 am add a comment one last thing as disgusting as tonight was i am sure it will only build interest in that other fight you know the one mayweatherpacquiao.

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