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When winning isn’t everything: Mayweather’s cheap shots


Of Floyd Mayweather’s 42 career victories, his 28th victory, the first one against Jose Luis Castillo, was the most questionable. Though some people agree that he won that fight, there are others who claim that Castillo deserved the nod and this seldom happens for Mayweather fights. He is so good that there’s often no doubt that he deserves to win each and every fight he takes. Although there is no doubt that Mayweather is the better fighter compared to Victor Ortiz, there's a sense of uncertainty that clouded his most recent win. Unlike his fight against Castillo, Mayweather’s opponent did nothing to make the result of the fight questionable. It was Mayweather who placed the asterisk to his own victory. Call it retaliation. Call it taking advantage of the moment. Call it cheap shots. Call it whatever you want. The fact of the matter is Mayweather is still undefeated. He knocked out Ortiz in the fourth round of their title fight. However, this fight will forever go down in history as one of Mayweather’s worst wins. Was the punch legal? Yes; resoundingly so. But somehow, the knockout does not feel right. Why would a talented fighter like Mayweather take advantage of a lull in the action to knock someone out when he could have easily done so later in the fight? Why would Mayweather cast doubts on his own victory when he could have gotten all the props in the world if he defeated Ortiz cleanly? The disparity in skill between Mayweather and Ortiz is night and day. Ortiz was clueless the entire fight. He had no idea how to stop Mayweather’s lightning quick rights and having a part-time trainer beside him definitely did not help. Mayweather had this fight in the bag but he chose to pass through a shortcut. Mayweather was toying with Ortiz in the first three rounds and he could have toyed with him for the entire duration of the fight en route to a dominant late round knockout or a wide unanimous decision victory. Yet, he chose to land a left right combination to a defenseless opponent whom he caught unaware. It was indeed a win but it left a bitter taste in the mouth for a lot of people. Sometimes an act deemed as legal does not necessarily mean it is the correct or moral thing to do. Sometimes you have to choose to be the bigger man; choose to beat an opponent at his best rather than beat him at his weakest. Sometimes you have to forget about yourself and think about the sport first, about the true spirit of competition, about winning with honor and integrity. Sadly, for Mayweather, it is all about himself. He knows he veered away from the toughest competition at some points of his career and he knows that if he is to be remembered as one of the best ever, he needs to stay undefeated. The obsession to keep his immaculate record has consumed Mayweather. It is this obsession that prevents a mega fight against Manny Pacquiao from happening. It is the same obsession that pushed Mayweather to hit Ortiz with a combination even if the latter was not ready to fight just yet. This is the irony of one Floyd Mayweather. We watched him create his name from the early days of his career. We watched him build a spotless résumé. And we paid good money to see him fight. Now, he has officially turned his back on boxing and its fans. All he cares about is keeping his unblemished record. To hell with proving he is the best by fighting the best, Mayweather thinks he is the best because no one has defeated him yet. The folly here is that he fails to realize he has not been defeated because he refuses to mix it up against the one fighter who can beat him. “Where was he in 1999? In 2000? In 2001? Where was he when I was dominating the game?," Mayweather asked. Well, basically Pacquiao was too busy fighting all comers at the flyweight and super bantamweight divisions in those times. He was busy building a name because unlike Mayweather, he wasn’t lucky enough to be born into the sport of boxing. Everything Pacquiao has, he earned. Nothing was ever given to him. Mayweather has to realize that in the sport of boxing, no one cares about losses suffered early in a fighter’s career. What’s important is here and now. And at this moment, Pacquiao and Mayweather are the best in the business and should meet inside the ring. Mayweather can exclaim to the high heavens that he does not need Pacquiao but at the end of the day when people look at Mayweather’s perfect record, they will see an asterisk and it will read “Refused to face Manny Pacquiao." -- OMG, GMA News

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