Floyd Mayweather vs his legacy

Floyd “pretty boy floyd” “money” Mayweather. The biggest undefeated, brash, supremely confident, amazingly fast star in boxing today and maybe of all time. Floyd Mayweather fought Victor Ortiz Saturday September 17th in his hometown of Las Vegas, but it ended up being more of a match against his legacy than against the young strong Ortiz.
The knock on Floyd Mayweather’s legacy is that he has always ducked elite competition. That claim has followed Mayweather for years since 2005 when Floyd Mayweather turned down the undefeated Miguel Cotto instead choosing Gatti. It continued this trend in 2006 when Floyd proved he wanted nothing to do with a very scary 147 pound Antonio Margarito even turning down a major payday to take a pay cut and fight a lesser opponent, which goes against the “its all about the money” mantra Mayweather has become synonymous with. Floyd has always said no matter who people want him to fight he will always “pick and choose who I want to face as long as it makes the most sense for me” which can be translated to “I fight who I’m sure I can beat” by some. The echoes of Floyd Mayweather ducking people only now became louder with the obvious matchup of Manny Pacquiaio which Mayweather once ducked by simply retiring and now has come up with this unwarranted random accusation of steroid abuse. Manny Pacquiao has bever failed a drug test, which means this accusation of steroids is very random to say the least.
Which brings us to the fight against “Vicious” Victor Ortiz. First we must congratulate HBO on masterfully hyping up a fight that nobody wanted to see into the big event they made it. The smartest decision I have ever seen was to put Floyd Mayweather on 24/7 letting him hype himself up while HBO painted Victor Ortiz as the hard working kid with a troubled past. HBO successfully constructed an event. They made people choose sides in a boxing match which always ensures more attention. HBO made you forget that Victor Ortiz is not in Floyd Mayweather’s class by making it seem like it was the spoiled rich kid fighting the have not. Floyd Mayweather has come from those same torn rags that Victor Ortiz pulled himself up by, but HBO made casual fans forget that. HBO not only used the obvious race card, they made it a battle of monetary class, which during these economic times hits much harder than the race card. Genius.
The fight went much like Mayweather, who is easily the most skilled fighter I’ve seen wanted it to. Mayweather won the first round by connecting with his signature hooks to Ortiz face meanwhile using his awesome slip technique to avoid the naturally powerful Ortiz’s power shots. Victor Ortiz came into the fight fourteen pounds heavier than Floyd, which did nothing to stop Mayweather from swelling his eye into the third round. Mayweather connected on 73-of-208 punches overall for a very impressive to Ortiz 26-of-148 eighteen percent. Ortiz didn’t land any jabs in the fight, Mayweather was systematically breaking Ortiz down it seemed. Ortiz was walking through many of Mayweather’s punches, but they were landing. In the fourth round, following an intentional head butt from Ortiz to the face of Mayweather while Floyd was in the corner, the referee broke the two fighters up and took a point away from Ortiz. Ortiz came out of the corner with his hands visibly at his side to embrace Floyd Mayweather, which is customary in any boxing match after a momentary referee stoppage. Mayweather agreed by putting his hands down and allowing Ortiz to hug him. Ortiz then released Mayweather and with his eyes still pointed away from Floyd and his hands still by his sides, Mayweather seized the chance and connected with a one two combination which ended Victor Ortiz night early. While the punch was legal in any rule book in the country, this was by many people’s standards a cheap shot.
The fact is Floyd Mayweather doesn’t need to lower himself to such actions like that. Mayweather was winning the fight. The most gifted fighter boxing has ever seen which is what pretty boy Floyd publicly calls himself doesn’t need to resort to such bush league tactics like hitting somebody he himself sees is completely defenseless to win a fight. A fighter as talented and supremely gifted as Floyd can simply depend on his superior skill to break down Victor Ortiz like he was doing and show how out classed Ortiz was in the ring. Instead Mayweather’s actions have left his naysayers a very valid reason to question if Ortiz was indeed hurting Floyd Mayweather causing him to take a cheap shot to get out of the trouble he was in. A fighter that truly is as confident as Mayweather says he is would not have taken such a shortcut to a victory.
When Floyd Mayweather retires his legacy will be that he is one of the all time greats. Equipped with a defense that’s almost impossible to connect a power shot against, plus very underestimated power and the quickest hands boxing has ever seen Mayweather is one of the brightest stars to come to boxing. If he retires now he will do so with a record of 42-0. Every fighter he stepped into the ring against left with an added number in their loss column. Record and legacy are two different things though. Mayweather has always coined himself as the greatest fighter to ever lace up the gloves. An all time great fighter needs an all time great fight. There were never questions of why Ali wouldn’t fight Frazier or why Sugar Ray Leonard was ducking Tommy Hitman Hearns. Muhammed Ali fought George Foreman when people were refusing to spare against George without extra health insurance. Floyd Mayweather is short changing himself. He is the most talented fighter of our generation, but this latest move has done a major disservice to his legacy.