By Chris LaBate
Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya has posted some critical comments in response to Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s two punch combination that knocked out Victor Ortiz last Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. De La Hoya disagrees with his company CEO, Richard Schaefer, who saw nothing wrong with Mayweather's two-punch hit.
After Ortiz delivered a deliberate headbutt in the fourth round, referee Joe Cortez pulled him to the side and took away a point. Ortiz went over to Mayweather and gave him a hug, and Mayweather responded with two punches which put Ortiz down for the full count. Ortiz later argued that his hands were down and Cortez never verbally ordered them to resume fighting.
De La Hoya's take - "Watched the Ortiz fight again and I have to say Ortiz was coming on. It was only the fourth round and Ortiz was letting his hands go. He was just warming up, putting Mayweather on the ropes. Then the cheap shot came along and the ref was lost, looking at someone ringside.
"Ortiz wanted to make it a street fight, not an unfair fight. I'm not trying to sell, I'm just saying that at 24-years young - Victor was going to come on strong. At four rounds you are just warming up. The headbutt was penalized....wasn't it?
"You cannot tell who's going to win just by seeing four rounds, especially when you have a young strong puncher like Victor in front of you. I'm just still fired up because of Victor being young and strong and he was in amazing shape and was hungry to win.
"I'm just saying a great fight was cut short because of bad sportsmanship. It's like when fighters touch gloves in the last round and then all of a sudden someone cheap shots you."
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