“font-size: 9pt;”>Mayweather remained unbeaten Saturday night, stopping Ortiz at 2:59 of the fourth round to take the piece of the welterweight title Ortiz brought into the ring.
The
end came just as the two fighters emerged from a break, in which
Ortiz had embraced Mayweather in the center of the ring. As they
broke, Mayweather shot out a left hand and followed it with a right
that put Ortiz down in his corner.
Ortiz
struggled to get up as referee Joe Cortez called an end to the
fight.
“We
touched gloves and we were back to fighting and then I threw the
left and right hand after the break,” Mayweather said. “In the ring
you have to protect yourself at all times.”
The
round was already controversial, as Ortiz appeared to head butt
Mayweather intentionally, leading Cortez to take a point away from
him. After the head butt, Ortiz went to Mayweather and gave him a
kiss on the cheek.
“font-size: 9pt;”>Seconds later they were in the center of the ring ready to resume action when two punches ended it quickly.
“I
took the break by the referee and I obeyed exactly as I was told,”
Ortiz said. “And then, boom, he blindsided me.”
“font-size: 9pt;”>Mayweather was winning the fight through three rounds, dominating with speed and landing good right hands to the head of Ortiz. He won all three rounds on two ringside scorecards, and two of three on the third.
Late
in the fourth round, he appeared to intentionally head butt
Mayweather in frustration as the two fought in Mayweather’s
corner.
“He
did something dirty when it was his corner who said I was dirty,”
Mayweather said. “But I won the fight.”
“font-size: 9pt;”>Mayweather later engaged in a verbal confrontation with HBO announcer Larry Merchant, calling him a name at one point and drawing a pointed response from the 80-year-old broadcaster, who said he would thrash the boxer if he “was 50 years younger.”
While
Ortiz claimed he was caught by a punch that came before Cortez
ruled the fighters to continue, the referee said Mayweather did
nothing wrong.
“font-size: small; font-family: Calibri;”> Information from Espn.com contributed to this report
