Floyd Mayweather Teaches Ortiz To Protect Himself At All Times…AVILA RINGSIDE

It doesn’t pay to display bad sportsmanship unless you’re Floyd Mayweather, who knocked out Victor Ortiz while he was shaking hands for a flagrant head butt  on Saturday.

Ortiz (29-3-2, 22 KOs) was having a difficult adjustment fighting the undefeated Mayweather (42-0, 26 KOs) in his first mega Las Vegas fight at the MGM Grand.

Just when Ortiz seemed to acclimate to the high level boxing of the lightning Mayweather by connecting with some strong combinations, he jutted his head forward in an attempt to butt Mayweather in round four and referee Joe Cortez stopped the fight to deduct a point. That’s when the hi-jinx began.

As Ortiz attempted to apologize by hugging Mayweather a second time he lowered his hands and Mayweather lowered the boom with a right and left hook as the referee, who’d been looking at the timekeeper, looked stupefied when he realized what had happened. Ortiz dropped to the floor and did not beat the count.

“He blind-sided me,” said Ortiz who shrugged his shoulders after the fight. “I took the break exactly as I was told. Then boom. I’m not a dirty fighter and I apologize for the head butt.”

Before the end it was all Mayweather as Ortiz tried to figure out the puzzling speed of the multi division world champion.
Lead rights found the mark early for Mayweather, who established it early in the first round. Ortiz scored some counters and looked to be in a countering mode beginning in round one.

Ortiz picked up the pace a bit in round two landing some thudding body shots. Still, Mayweather’s lead right kept landing repeatedly though Ortiz connected with a big right hook that shook Mayweather. But not enough to win the round.

Those right hands from Mayweather kept coming one after another in round three. Ortiz changed up a bit by moving side to side. During an exchange of blows Mayweather connected first with the right before Ortiz’s left.

Ortiz’s finally began to understand Mayweather’s movements in round four and landed several combinations that had the slippery fighter on defense. During a second blistering combination Ortiz attempted a head butt. He apologized profusely.

Maybe too profusely.

“After the break I threw a left hook and a right hand,” said Mayweather. “We have to protect ourselves at all times.”
Ortiz could not beat the count and the fight was over as a stunned crowd looked on.

Canelo

Mexico’s Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (38-0-1, 28 KOs) scored a sixth round knockout over gutsy Alfonso Gomez (23-5-2) despite having problems early on with the California-based fighter at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. He retains the WBC junior middleweight world title.

Alvarez floored Gomez in the first round with a stiff left jab. But after that round, Gomez befuddled the red head with clever movements and combinations that scored often.

No matter, in the sixth round Alvarez caught Gomez with a short right hand and followed it with two more. Then a barrage of blows forced the referee to stop the fight thus giving Alvarez the world title

Morales Wins WBC Junior Welterweight title

Tijuana’s Erik “El Terrible (52-7, 36 KOs) used his experience to stop Mexico City’s Pablo Cano (22-1-1, 17 KOs) at the end of round 10 to win the vacant WBC title. Cano was bloody and unable to see from both eyes.

“He’s a young fighter and he throws really hard punches,” said Morales.

It was Morales’ fourth world title in a fourth weight division.

“I’m very happy about winning a fourth world title,” Morales said. “But it was more difficult than expected.”

The title was stripped from Palm Springs undefeated Timothy Bradley for failing to defend it. Currently Bradley is in litigation over his promotional contract.

It was a good thing it was a stoppage. One judge, Tim Miller,  had had Morales winning by two points and another, Dave Moretti,  had it a draw.

“I’m a little upset I didn’t win, but I took this fight on a week’s notice,” Cano said.

Vargas Wins Close Booed Decision Over Lopez

Hometown fighter Jessie Vargas grabbed a split-decision win over Riverside’s Josesito Lopez after 10 rounds of back and forth pummeling in a junior welterweight bout with world title implications.
Many in the crowd booed the decision.

Vargas (17-0, 9 KOs) had entered the ring under the Mayweather Promotions banner and maybe that helped as two judges scored it for the Las Vegas product despite a point deduction for a low blow.

Lopez (29-4, 17 KOs) was not surprised by the judges. He had suffered another loss years ago to a Las Vegas based prizefighter. It was déjà vu.

“I already knew that I had to punish him and punish him even more to win a decision in Las Vegas,” said Lopez, who suffered a loss to another Floyd Mayweather fighter, Wes Ferguson, that many felt Lopez beat too. “I should have done a little more.”

Judges Patricia Morse Jarman and Duane Ford scored it 96-93 and 95-94 respectively for Vargas. Judge Dick Houck had it 95-94 for Lopez.

Other bouts

Oklahoma City’s Carson Jones (32-8-2, 22 KOs) started slowly but after two rounds turned on the after burners with uppercuts and body shots to stop Las Vegas boxer Said Ouali (28-4, 20 KOs)  at the end of round seven for a technical knockout win in a bout.

Canada’s Adonis Stevenson (15-1, 12 KOs) pummeled Dion Savage (10-2, 6 KOs) from the opening seconds and floored him with a counter left hand from a southpaw position. Savage got up and defended from a peek-a-boo position, Stevenson had no problem getting through as he battered through the high guard until referee Tony Weeks stopped the fight at 1:57 of round one.