By Chris Robinson
It was a crowded scene inside of the media center at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas following Floyd Mayweather’s shocking 4th round knockout over Victor Ortiz. In a fight that left some satisfied, others disappointed, and many perplexed, Mayweather would stop Ortiz after catching him with an unexpected left-right combination that the Oxnard-based former champion never saw coming.
Mayweather’s actions didn’t rub everyone the right way and although his punch was clearly legal, there is a select group who feel that Junior was ‘unprofessional’ with his approach. Mayweather’s Uncle Jeff, however, was quick to point out that Floyd was simply returning the favor from Ortiz, who moments earlier had lost a point from referee Joe Cortez following a blatant head butt he delivered while pinning Mayweather along the ropes.
“I thought it was poetic justice,” Mayweather stated. “Basically, when a person does wrong, it’s justice when the wrong gets did to them.”
As far as the action he saw inside of the ropes through the first four rounds, which included several lead right hands from his nephew and some moments of aggression from Ortiz, Jeff feels that Floyd was turning the tables on his younger foe, who had come into the fight with some lofty proclamations of his own.
“Like I tell everyone, there’s no welterweight out there strong enough for Floyd. And I mean that physically. Ortiz did a lot of talk about how he was going to make Floyd run and he was running,” Jeff continued.
Mayweather had a grueling camp that saw him put in work with former champion Kassim Ouma and former title challengers Sechew Powell and Deandre Latimore. The atmosphere in his gym was lively and Jeff remembers how up to the task Floyd was for all of it.
“One thing is that Floyd didn’t back down from none of the guys he sparred with and they were bigger than him,” stated Jeff, who once held the IBO junior lightweight championship. “And he’s walking them down. When it came to fight, he did the exact same thing.”
And while the future remains uncertain for Floyd, who has been known to take lengthy layoffs following his performances, Jeff seems sure that there is one fight in particular that we won’t be seeing anytime soon.
“That’s up in the air. No one really knows. I’m sure there are a lot of opponent who would love to fight him, for the opportunity and the payday, but the fight that everybody wants, that fight isn’t going to happen. And everybody knows why it isn’t going to happen.”
As for his own career, Jeff Mayweather is currently training Celestino Caballero for his upcoming rematch with WBA featherweight champion Jonathan Victor Barros.