Vicious Money 5 feet, 9.7 inches 5 feet, 8 inches | 29–2–2 (22 KO) 41–0–0 (25 KO) Date 17 September 2011 | |
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Venue MGM Grand, Staples Center Title(s) on the line WBC Welterweight Championship Result Floyd Mayweather via Knockout win in the 4th round. Location MGM Grand Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | ||
Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Victor Ortiz, billed as Star Power, was a championship fight for Ortiz's WBC Welterweight title. The bout was held on September 17, 2011, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada and televised via HBO PPV. As a part of a split-site doubleheader, the broadcast also featured the Saul Alvarez vs. Alfonso Gomez Light Middleweight championship bout taking place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
Contents
The Fight
From round one, Mayweather used his speed, skills and accurate right hand to tag Ortiz repeatedly. Mayweather seemed in control through the first three rounds (judges scores: 30–27, 30–27, 29–28 for Mayweather), but in the fourth round, Ortiz found some success, landing a few shots and stinging Mayweather before bulling him into the corner. Then Ortiz rammed Mayweather in the face with an intentional headbutt, busting open a cut on the inside and outside of Mayweather's mouth, which, if had landed on the upper eye, would have forced a call to the cards if called unintentional by Cortez, per the rules of the sanctioning body. Referee Joe Cortez immediately called timeout and docked Ortiz a point for the foul. Ortiz – seemingly acknowledging his wrongdoing – hugged and even kissed Mayweather in the corner. Cortez motioned the fighters back together to resume the fight. The fighters touched gloves and Mayweather seemed to half-heartedly return another hug from Ortiz. Then, with Cortez looking away from the fighters, and as the fighters separated from the hug, Mayweather caught Ortiz with a left hook. Stunned by the punch, and still not raising his hands to defend himself, Ortiz seemed to stare at Cortez as if to say "did you see that?" Mayweather then hit Ortiz with a flush right to the face. Ortiz dropped straight onto the canvas and was unable to beat Cortez's count.
"In the ring, you have to protect yourself at all times," Mayweather said. "After it happened, we touched gloves and we were back to fighting and then I threw the left hook and right hand after the break. You just gotta protect yourself at all times." Mayweather then told interviewer Larry Merchant that he should be fired and shouted many expletives at him after Larry Merchant asked if what he did was unsportsmanlike.
Fight earnings
Mayweather was paid a guaranteed $25 million, which can go as high as $40 million depending on the pay per view numbers, and Ortiz was paid $2 million.
Mayweather vs. Victor Ortiz generated buys from 1.25 million homes with a value of $78,440,000 in pay-per-view revenue. These numbers make the event the third highest grossing non-heavyweight pay-per-view event of all time.
Main card
