(Image Source: HBO)

You're watching multisource sports news analysis from Newsy.
 

BY MOLLY HULSEY

Protect yourself at all times.

It’s one of the most important rules in boxing, and one Victor Ortiz learned the hard way after Floyd Mayweather defeated him with a controversial knockout Friday. But was the fight a fair one? ESPN has the highlights.

“In the fourth round of a bout that was being dominated by Mayweather, Victor Ortiz purposely headbutted Mayweather... Ortiz again attempted to approach Mayweather to apologize... inexplicably, Cortez was not looking at the fighters when Mayweather cold-cocked Ortiz with a left-right combination and knocked him out.”

Retired boxer Oscar De La Hoya took to Twitter to defend Ortiz, saying “bad sportsmanship by Mayweather. a young lion does not deserve to go out like that and i will fight for ortiz to have a rematch.” (sic)

Over at The Sports Network, Russ Anber was much more critical of Ortiz, saying-- he was asking for it.

“Floyd Mayweather has NEVER been a dirty fighter. Brilliant, controversial, enigmatic? Yes. Dirty? Never. Ortiz... sent the message that anything goes. All the apologies in the world were not going to curb the killer instinct that was lit.”

But does either fighter deserve the blame? A blogger for The Sweet Science doesn’t think so.

“If we're parceling out blame, [the ref] has to receive the lion's share, because he is there to keep order...when emotions boil over during a stressful time, the ref has to be the voice of reason, the person to keep order.”

A Grantland writer observes that no matter who is to blame--  the fight has done damage to Mayweather’s image.

“What Floyd lost was the begrudging respect of those who hate his flamboyance, his defensive style...Until Saturday night, the haters had to shut up when the opening bell rang. Now they have ammunition. And in that way, it doesn't matter if it was actually a sucker punch or if it wasn't a sucker punch...”

So what’s next for the two fighters? Boxing analyst Dan Rafael thinks we won’t see the two of them in the same ring for awhile.

“Victor Ortiz’ people have come to the post-fight press conference and they are basically groveling for a rematch. That’s not going to happen in my opinion. This was a mismatched fight as we saw it unfold: Floyd totally dominated.”

Transcript by Newsy