Victor Ortiz: Will He Be the First to Legitimately Knock Down Floyd Mayweather?

The biggest American star in boxing, and quite possibly the greatest pure boxer in the game right now, Floyd Mayweather, is of course returning to the ring to take on the much younger, hungrier WBC champion, Victor "Vicious" Ortiz on September 17.

Many of you who have ever met Ortiz knows he is a very nice guy who is extremely humble when meeting fans and the media. But, of course, inside the ring he does live up to his moniker "Vicious" with his relentless offensive fighting style which he throws multiple power shots with bad intentions to knock out his opponents.

With all the hype stirring up for the Mayweather vs. Ortiz fight, billed "Star Power," one of the key interesting notes about Ortiz is that he has knocked down every single opponent that he ever faced professionally in the ring.

This is quite an impressive accomplishment for any fighter for we don't hear this often when discussing even some of the greats of this current era.

I personally have not seen all of Victor's 33-career fights but, in all honestly, I almost want to see them all to verify if this is indeed true or a bit of an exaggeration.

I personally am a fan of Ortiz. I have seen him fight live in person and on TV several times and, yes, every fight that I have seen of him he did indeed knock down all of those opponents.

But the obvious larger, million-dollar question is: Will Ortiz be the first to legitimately knock down the great undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr.? Or will Mayweather, with his superior skills, technique and defense, be the first fighter to escape Ortiz and his perfect record of knocking down every single one of his opponents?

Let's take a look at this video slideshow of both fighters for a better understanding of what may occur when Mayweather and Ortiz step into the ring on September 17.

Floyd's Only Knockdown on Paper by the Head of Hernandez

Floyd Mayweather's only knockdown on paper was all the way back in 2001 against Carlos Hernandez in front of his hometown crowd in Grand Rapids, Michigan. 

During the closing of the sixth round, Mayweather threw a fast, short left to the top of Hernandez's head, causing damage to his hand and causing him so much pain that he had to take a knee and his glove touched the canvas.

The referee took notice to this and quickly declared it a knockdown for Hernandez since Floyd's glove touched the canvas.

Was this a traditional knockdown by Hernandez? No, of course it was not, but when you are fighting the best fighter in the world in Mayweather, then you have to take what you can get even if you knock him down by having the hardest head he has ever punched.

Zab Judah's Unofficial Flash Knockdown of Mayweather

Many fight fans and media saw Zab Judah as the first fighter to really knock down Floyd Mayweather in the second round of their 2006 fight. The only problem was the referee did not see it that way and decided to rule it a slip instead of a knockdown even though many, including the HBO commentator team, all agreed his glove touched the canvas.

Of course, in the end, it didn't really matter since, just like any other fight, Mayweather figures out all of his opponents and breaks them down to a dominating win.

The key note about this fight, and pretty much any Mayweather fight, is that if he does experience any trouble or loses a round it is, for the most part, only in the first few rounds.

I have said this numerous times: If you are going to beat Mayweather, then you must do it in the first few rounds of the fight because this is when he is most vulnerable and is still loosening up as he is analyzing his opponents and not opening up.

The only time we ever see Mayweather in trouble or hit cleanly, is in the first few rounds—after that, it is another clinic by the Pretty Boy who now goes by Money May.

So, for Victor Ortiz or Manny Pacquiao, the key to beating the undefeated Mayweather is going for broke, going all out for the knockout in Round 1 and Round 2.

If Ortiz wants to keep his perfect record of knocking down every single opponent he ever faced, then he must knock Mayweather down in Round 1 or Round 2, again when he is most vulnerable.

Shane Mosley Almost Floors Floyd Mayweather

Most recently, in Mayweather's last fight against Mosley in Round 2, the pride of Pomona, California was able to land some signature big right-hand bombs that Mayweather was not ready for.

Again, I use the words "not ready for" because Mayweather is most vulnerable in the first few rounds of the fight—he is sizing up Mosley, analyzing him and configuring what he needs to do. While Mayweather is still doing this, Mosley capitalizes by throwing big right hands.

Floyd is intelligent enough to hold on and clinch onto Shane's arm, preventing further damage—later on in the round, when he is hit again, he covers up with a tight guard until he regains his legs and composure.

Mosley proved that he was not able to continue this successful assault as he began to fatigue and get countered for the majority of the rounds that came after losing another dominating performance to the undefeated Money May.

At the post-fight conference, Mayweather was asked if Mosley's punch was the hardest he ever experienced, and he said no—the DeMarcus Corley fight is where he experienced the hardest punch landed.

Ironically, if you watch the Mayweather vs. Corley fight, you do see Mayweather did get hit quite cleanly in the beginning of that fight; but when Larry Merchant asked him if Corley ever hurt him, he said no.

Victor Ortiz's Greatest Hits

If you search on YouTube from HBO's official YouTube page, there is a more up-to-date Victor Ortiz Greatest Hits video, but they, unfortunately, do no allow you to link the video outside of their YouTube page.

So, instead, this is an older version of Victor Ortiz's Greatest Hits uploaded in March that ends with his controversial draw with Lamont Peterson.

I was ringside at the Ortiz vs. Peterson fight, and I had Ortiz clearly winning that fight for the knockdowns and winning the majority of the first half of the fight.

So yes, Ortiz did knock down Peterson as well as everyone in this greatest-hits montage.

Even in Victor's most infamous fight with Marcos Maidana, he knocked down Maidana hard multiple times and Maidana got up to fight on which shows how much heart Maidana has.

Because HBO does not allow the most current updated Victor Ortiz Greatest Hits video to be linked, this older version does not include the Andre Berto fight.

But watch this highlight reel and see how much power and bad intentions Victor has and why he does live up to the moniker "Vicious."

Victor Ortiz's Most Shining Moment of His Career, Winning WBC Belt Against Berto

The Ortiz vs. Berto fight was initially viewed as another HBO fill-in fight, meaning Berto was never able to land the big elite names at 147 so they allowed a decent name from 140 to come up and challenge him.

Many viewed this a mismatch and thought Berto was going to punish Ortiz as Maidana did in the final rounds of that fight.

I personally predicted that Ortiz was going to pull the upset, for I saw Berto was greatly underestimating him.

Many were shocked that Ortiz was, but more so how he won by getting up from the canvas to knock Berto down so hard that legendary trainer/commentator Emmanuel Steward scared most fight fans by screaming, "OH MY GOD!"

This display of relentless sheer aggression was just too much for Berto, as Ortiz pulled a fight-of-the-year performance, taking away his belt that night.

Ortiz describes his performance as fighting as a man possessed.

In order to defeat Mayweather, he must also fight like a man possessed if he really wants to pull the upset on September 17.

Ortiz opened as a big under-dog at 7 to 1 to beat Mayweather.

Now he is still a pretty big under dog at 5 to 1.

For many, defeating the undefeated, greatest, pure boxer of our era is highly unlikely, but what may be more realistic is for Ortiz to remain undefeated and perfect in his own record of knocking down every single opponent he has ever faced.

Will Ortiz be the first to legitimately knock down Mayweather? At 5-to-1 current odds of beating Mayweather, you would assume the odds indicate he will have a better chance of knocking him down then actually beating him.

The more appropriate question might be: will Ortiz win a big morale victory in just being the first to legitimately knock down Mayweather?

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