Mayweather vs. Ortiz: Oscar De La Hoya and Bob Arum Disappointed By Unsportsmanlike B

[WrestlingSmarks News]

The top two promoters in boxing, in Oscar De La Hoya and Bob Arum rarely get along, but aside from additional promoterspeak, their statements on the highly controversial Floyd Mayweather vs. Victor Ortiz bout are pretty similar. Disappointment.

Golden Boy Promotion's Oscar De La Hoya, who sort-of has Mayweather on his stable, finally commented on the situation on his twitter page. He says he will push for a rematch:

Ortiz took it to the street and Mayweather finished it in the street. Bad sportsmanship by Mayweather. ORTIZ was just warming up, a young lion does not deserve to go out like that and i will fight for Ortiz to have a rematch. But I feel Mayweather looked good and Ortiz looked good.

Terrible head butt by Ortiz and should have been deducted 2 points, but to win the way he won was not right. Ortiz deserves a rematch!!! ...And sorry to say but the ref. was lost as can be.

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Top Rank's Bob Arum also commented, and says he's disgusted: (HT: BadLeftHook)

Whether it was legal or not legal, it was unsportsmanlike behavior [by Mayweather] and it was a cheap shot [by Mayweather]. I'm disgusted by what I saw.

For this kid to take off on Larry Merchant the way he did and use the language that he did - it was a disgrace.

[Ortiz] intentionally headbutted Mayweather. It is inexcusable, but he paid the penalty, which was the deduction of one point. That doesn't excuse unsportsmanlike behavior and throwing a cheap shot like Mayweather did. That's not something Pacquiao would do. That's not something that any of the fighters that I had in the eighties would do, like Leonard, Hearns and Hagler. It's just inexcusable behavior.

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Obviously, with these two promoters, you have to take their statements with a grain of salt. Although not technically a Golden Boy Fighter, Mayweather has been working with/for De La Hoya for several fights now. Arum on the other hand, genuinely dislikes the guy, and would probably not have said the same had his Top Rank fighters been involved. That being said, and ignoring the added promotional-speak about his other fighters, I pretty much agree with what Arum said.

The punch was legal, but very unsportsmanlike, and I firmly believe that one disgraceful act shouldn't excuse another. Ortiz showed his inexperience by letting his emotions get the better of him on the heat of the moment. He threw a blatant headbutt that he got penalized for, and sure, part of the blame should be put on him, but Floyd should've been above that. Mayweather always boasts about how legendary a fighter he is, but he should've acted like one in the ring by being mature enough to not have that eye for an eye mentality.

Although this is Floyd Mayweather we are talking about, so while he should have been above it, I can't really say I was completely surprised that he wasn't.

After the jump, Arum talks about the referee, and addresses Mayweather's steroid allegations stemming from Manny Pacquiao's rise in weight.

Here's Arum's thoughts on Cortez, who got a bit of criticism during all the confusion in the ring:

Cortez, in my opinion, did a very poor job. When the foul came, he properly took a point away, and when the action continued he should have looked at both fighters and said 'fight.' He didn't do that. He was looking at the timekeeper apparently, and said 'time in.' But that is not communicating with an Ortiz. Do I think Cortez did a poor job? Yes I do.

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On Mayweather claiming Pacquiao's weight gain is unnatural:

When they were both 16, they were both at the same weight, 105-pounds. Floyd was an amateur because he had the benefit of living in America, and Pacquiao was a professional because he was living on the streets of Manila. But they were both 105-pounds when they started at 16, you can look it up.

http://www.boxingscene.com/rss/tags.php?id=1031​

As always, do check out Bad Left Hook's more comprehensive coverage of the event.