• Boxing

Mayweather booed at end of controversial win

ESPN staff
September 18, 2011

An undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jnr knocked out Victor Ortiz in the fourth round of their WBC welterweight title bout in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

Mayweather ultimately prevailed after a cagey start from both fighters. With the majority of the crowd behind him, Ortiz went on the offensive in the second round to land some telling body shots as Mayweather pressed against the ropes.

Yet despite a couple of successes, this was not the early onslaught that Ortiz had promised, and Mayweather always looked in control of proceedings, landing enough of his trademark counter-punches to prove he was in command.

When the end came it was brutally efficient - although also, it must be said, a little sneaky: it began when Ortiz backed Mayweather into the corner before blatantly catching him with a headbutt. Ortiz was penalised a point and offered his apologies to Mayweather, embracing him before planting a kiss.

After they touched gloves to resume fighting, Ortiz stepped backwards and was immediately caught by a left hook and then a finishing right hand that left him down for the count. When the second of the two devastating blows landed, Ortiz appeared to be staring at Cortez, who was not looking at either fighter.

It was a controversial end to the bout, and enough to see Mayweather booed for several minutes by the Las Vegas crowd.

Where the new WBC champion goes from here is, typically, hard to work out. Amir Khan is desperate to fight him, but Mayweather insists Khan must first get past Jessie Vargas - a bout the Brit does not appear particularly keen on.

Then there is the long-running saga with Manny Pacquiao, which remains too complicated to make any confident predictions about - although Pacquiao appears willing to meet Mayweather's demands for Olympic-style drug testing.

Despite the early defeat for Ortiz, his reputation is unlikely to be seriously damaged due to the contentious nature of the finish.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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