Mayweather vs Ortiz exhibition rematch reportedly planned for Aug. 24
Floyd Mayweather Jr controversially knocked out Victor Ortiz in 2011
The Floyd Mayweather Exhibition Tour shows no sign of slowing despite its star turning 47 a few months back. ESPN’s Salvador Rodriguez reports that “Money” will settle some finished business when he meets Victor Ortiz on August 24th in Mexico.
Mayweather (50-0, 27 KO) has not confirmed the matchup but did tease a “big announcement” for tomorrow with the hashtag #MayweatherMexico.
Ortiz (33-7-3, 25 KO) entered their 2011 showdown unbeaten in his previous six since a brutal loss to Marcos Maidana, most notably gritting his way past Andre Berto in Ring Magazine’s Fight of the Year. He got off to a decent start, but soon grew frustrated with Mayweather’s elusiveness and vented said frustrations with a blatant headbutt. After losing a point, he offered Mayweather a “no hard feelings” hug, then inexplicably went back in for a second hug.
Mayweather, in the moment that arguably put “protect yourself at all times” into the boxing lexicon, gently shoved Ortiz away before cracking him with a left hook. Ortiz turned to look at referee Joe Cortez, who was speaking to a ringside official at the time, and got knocked into Bolivian by Mayweather’s follow-up right cross.
Mayweather then coined another key piece of boxing lingo by informing Larry Merchant that he “[didn’t] know sh*t about boxing.”
I’d make a statement here about how there’s no reason for them to make a sequel when the original was such a perfect comedy of errors, but when has that ever stopped Mayweather? He’ll keep doing this as long as they keep paying him and opponents keep lining up.
That said, if he’s committed to his world tour, it would be nice to see him make another pit stop in Japan and fight some MMA/kickboxing dude who’d genuinely try to tear his head off. I guarantee you Chihiro Suzuki would be up for it.