All Fights Get Dirty: Mayweather vs Ortiz

Hey Guys,

Don’t know if you saw the Mayweather vs Ortiz fight on Saturday, but it was certainly one to remember. We could all see this fight getting dirty by round 4, but if you were watching carefully you could see that it started getting dirty a lot earlier.

Remember that post a while back about Mark Hatmaker’s dirty boxing secrets, well Ortiz was using this stuff all night. One of the most obvious spots was Ortiz’s aggressive use of his head whenever they tied up.

Everyone is talking about the totally obvious head butt in round 4 but my guess is that was just the last straw for Mayweather who had been putting up with Ortiz rough play inside all night. Mayweather played nice until Ortiz got a little over the top.

If you want to check out Ortiz’s subtle moves go back and watch a replay from about 1:15 left in round 2. You will see Ortiz banging his head against both sides of Mayweather’s head. Usually you will see boxers just use a little head tap on one side when they are tied up (to soften up their opponent) Ortiz went for both sides making it pretty obvious. I was surprised the referee Joe Cortez didn’t say anything about that one.

To Mayweather’s credit he continued to fight pretty clean until Ortiz made it clear he wanted a dirty fight with that head butt. You could almost watch Mayweather get serious after that. The funny part is the announcers had just talked a littler earlier about how Mayweather’s nickname should be the ‘Black-widow,’ because of his skills at deceit in the ring, and his ability to draw an opponent into his powerful shots. Speaking of deception this fight just goes to show that deception is not just a self defense tool on the streets it plays just as big of a role in controlled professional fights (the techniques are the only thing that changes).

I think we saw that play out in the ring. Mayweather casually went up to make nice with Ortiz who was presumably apologizing and then wham! Ortiz was left dazed and smiling adding one more KO to Mayweather’s perfect record. Mayweather was certainly playing at a different level than Ortiz and  the frustration Ortiz was feeling probably let to his dirty tactics. Mayweather was blocking or dodging his punches all night.

After that short but very exiting fight I’m definitely looking forward to seeing Mayweather in the ring again. I’m sure the questionable KO (the ref never actually told them the match was back on after the time out) will create quite a controversy and Mayweather is going to have to get back in the ring to show everyone he can win whatever fight his opponents bring (clean or dirty).

Oh and by the way if you didn’t have a chance to check out the fight (It’s worth watching even if you already heard what happened) you can see a free video of it by clicking the link on the Fightfast.com facebook page.