Mayweather Receipts Ortiz Headbutt with Sneaky KO [VIDEO]

LAS VEGAS, NV — Victor Ortiz quickly found out he picked the wrong fighter to head butt, as Floyd Mayweather retaliated immediately with a pinpoint right cross for a 4th round KO last night at the MGM Grand.

From round one, Mayweather made good on his promise to stand in front of Ortiz and pursue a knockout. Despite Ortiz weighing 164 pounds on fight night compared to Mayweather’s 150, the challenger easily abused his much bigger foe with straight rights down the middle. The high accuracy had Ortiz backpedaling and seeking to catch Mayweather with a occassional burst of hooks. Mayweather, still quick enough to back up in straight lines and tie up, did so with a mocking grin at every Ortiz flurry.

The champion did much more effective work in round two. While still backpedaling, Ortiz landed a counter straight left and right hook in the first minute that gave Mayweather caution in his pursuit. He responded by holding his lead hand out as a range finder and blinder before catching Ortiz with two hard and flush straight rights. The shots seemed to embolden Ortiz; he stayed close to Floyd and drove him to the ropes twice before the closing minute. However, Mayweather effectively caught Ortiz’s inside flurries on his gloves and shoulders, and closed the round strong with three consecutive straight rights. The straight right would again catch an incoming Ortiz in the last 10 seconds to secure another statistically dominant round.

With Victor Ortiz now wary of the right hand, Mayweather switched to countering his pressure with left hooks. Two of these punches had Ortiz retreating after the first minute. He fared no better trying to jab his way in; Mayweather countered him immediately with straight rights. He mixed in a right uppercut that had Ortiz on his heels to end the round.

Round four began with Floyd Mayweather exciting the crowd with something he rarely does, punch in sustained combination. In the first 30 seconds, Mayweather threw a blistering combination of hooks and uppercuts that caused Ortiz to hold on. When Ortiz got Mayweather to the ropes and was clinched, he responded with a blocked head butt, which elicited a warning from referee Joe Cortez to watch the head. When Ortiz again tried to push Floyd to the ropes, he received a left hook and had to reset. Back at ring center, Mayweather landed a right uppercut, left hook combination. Ortiz responded with a sharp right hook, and for the first time punched quickly with hooks while Mayweather covered up on the ropes. After the flurry, Mayweather smirked and shook his head.

Mayweather remained composed and immediately went back to landing the straight right at ring center. Ortiz got him to the ropes again, and threw another inside head butt at the 1:18 mark, which got a “watch the heads” warning from Cortez. Mayweather landed well with right hands as Ortiz backpedaled before he exploded with a right and left hook combination that pushed Mayweather back to the ropes. Mayweather was visibly smirking on the inside as Ortiz wailed away with more power punches that Mayweather slipped. With 10 seconds left in the round, Ortiz launched into Mayweather’s mouth with a head butt followed by a left hook that immediately caused Mayweather to turn away in pain.

Joe Cortez promptly stopped the clock, which seemed to make Ortiz realize what he had just done. He hugged Mayweather and kissed him on the cheek in contrition before Cortez took him by the hand and docked one point. While still with Cortez, Ortiz reached out and touched gloves with a visibly angry Mayweather, who complied with the second apology as he crossed the ring to another corner. Corte gave Ortiz another warning before calling “time in!” and looking at the timekeeper to make sure the clock was going. After being waved in, Ortiz made a third apology by trying to hug Mayweather, who measured him with his hands up before leveling the champion with left hook and straight right that knocked him flat on his back. Cortez picked up the count, and Ortiz could only make it to his knees before being counted out.

The controversy carried into the post-fight press interview, as Mayweather began a tirade with HBO commentator Larry Merchant, alleging bias.

“I was always told to protect yourself at all times,” Mayweather said in the post-fight press conference. “My mouth was split open. I said keep it clean. Once you touch gloves, it is go time.We came together to fight. It is fight time. You want to do me dirty and then two minutes later you want to be my friend? This is the hurting business. Without the fourth round, he was going to get knocked out anyway.  I was fighting stronger. I was keeping my composure and sticking to the game plan.We
were breaking him down. I listened to what my corner said.”

Ortiz, who did not complain about the punches when he regained his senses, remains confident that he’ll recapture a welterweight title.

“He landed a good one. It was a good shot,” Ortiz admitted. “I  started it, but I got my point taken away. I was letting him come in because he wasn’t hurting me at all. He doesn’t have a stiff right. I am fine. I will be champion again. Within the next six months, I will be champion again.”

Alfonso Gomez (23-5-2, 12 KOs) was the victim of a quick stoppage after giving undefeated Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (38-0, 28 KOs) a tough fight at Los Angeles’ Staples Center. Despite scoring an early flash knockdown off a counter jab, Alvarez let Gomez outwork him in several rounds while he focused on a shoulder roll defense and countering. In round six, Canelo landed a counter right uppercut, his pet punch of the night, followed by a right cross that stunned Gomez. Alvarez drove him to the ropes and threw an assortment of hooks, all blocked, before referee Wayne Hedgpeth called off the bout to a shocked Gomez.

“I think the ref was looking for an opportunity to stop the fight,” Gomez said. “He hit me hard but I was OK.  The ref asked me and I said I was fine. It is what it is. You take the opportunity. I wanted to go the distance, I wanted to continue.”

Erik Morales (52-7, 36 KOs) won his first title at junior welterweight with a brutal and bloody victory over Pablo Cesar Cano (22-1-1, 17 KOs). Early on, Morales struggled with the hand speed of Cano, who was able to land 3-4 combinations. Morales slowly pulled his young foe into a brawl by timing right hands and opening up a gushing cut that spanned the entire length of Cano’s left eye socket. Morales mixed in rights to the body, and rolled with Cano’s punches as he continued to land harder shots in close and rearrange Cano’s face into a grotesque mask. Following the 10th round, Cano’s corner pulled him to prevent further punishment.

“We are very happy. Two years ago we contemplated this return,” Morales explained. “We thought about it and took a break. We wanted to come back strong, to make this dream come true and win the world title. We worked very hard. It was a tough fight. We fought a young, strong fighter, but we did it.”

“There is some work to be done. There are some adjustments to be made. The kid is strong. He fought hard, but we are very happy we won the fourth title. I want to thank the press, who at times they have been a little hard on me. Thank you for making me work that much harder.”

In the opener, prospect Jessie Vargas (17-0, 9 KOs) won a very tight split decision over Josesito Lopez (29-4, 17 KOs). Vargas fought off the backfoot after being hurt early on the inside by Lopez, who proved to be the stronger fighter. After an accidental head butt opened a cut on Lopez in the middle rounds, Vargas was able to get back in the fight by landing light combinations before clinching. Lopez managed with landed the harder, more sporadic shots, and even hurt Vargas late in the last round. The final scorecards read 95-94, 94-95 and 96-93.