Floyd Mayweather, Jr, vs. Victor Ortiz: Bleacher Report Staff Predictions

Alright fight fans the time has finally come for the next super mega fight and we are talking about once again the biggest, undefeated, flashiest star in the sport Floyd "Money May" Mayweather, Jr. stepping into the ring against a much younger hungrier opponent in WBC welterweight champion Victor "Vicious" Ortiz this Saturday September 17th, which is traditionally the weekend of Mexican Independence Day.

Ortiz is putting his WBC welterweight title on the line and Mayweather is putting his undefeated record as well. Ortiz also holds an undefeated record as well having a perfect record of knocking down every single one of his opponents he has ever faced. Will Floyd be the first to end Victor's perfect knockdown record and escape not being floored in this fight?

Some quick stats on this fight: Mayweather is of course undefeated at 41-0. The biggest factors for him may be he is now 34 years old and has not fought since May 2010, about 15 months of ring inactivity.

Ortiz is a southpaw who is only 24 years old, so he has the fight stance/style and youth as well as his power that again enabled him to knock down every single fighter he has ever faced. Even in Victor's two losses against Alarcon and Maidana he knocked both of them down hard several times.

Many are viewing Ortiz with his southpaw style as an indication for Mayweather to prepare for the inevitable Mayweather/Pacquiao fight.

Most are viewing Ortiz as too green for Mayweather, while a significantly small minority are saying Ortiz has the hunger, power, youth, fighting style and aggression to upset the undefeated biggest name in the sport.

One final side note this Star Power Mayweather vs Ortiz pay-per-view also has a split location co-headlining co-main event going on the same night at Staples Center with new Mexican super star Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, who may possibly hinder the ticket sales in Las Vegas with the huge Mexican community based in LA that might prefer to stay in LA and possibly attend the Staples Center instead of making the trip to Las Vegas.  Should Canelo sell out the Staples Center and Mayweather not be able to sell out the MGM Grand it might indicate that a new pay-per-view star may be on his way to replace the older Mayweather once he retires.

So with all that being said lets now turn to the boxing experts here at the Bleacher Report to offer their expert boxing knowledge to the world once again, shall we?

KING J, Bleacher Report Boxing Community Leader, Featured Columnist

I have been intentionally busting a "Teddy Atlas" all year long and just like Atlas, going for the big under dogs has made me wrong all year. However, the one time I did pull an Atlas and was correct was when I picked Ortiz to upset Berto and we all know how that night went. I will play the Atlas card one final time this year and go with Ortiz to shock the world and upset Mayweather giving him his first loss.

Yes, all the logic goes against this, but hey, stranger things have happened in the sport of boxing. Ortiz MUST provide a stoppage, if not, Mayweather wins no matter what. Same goes for the Pacquiao vs. Marquez III fight, no one will be winning a decision against either Floyd or Manny at least until May 2012.

About 10:00 PM Pacific time I will either be the official Teddy Atlas of 2011 or like 2pac said, "I made a G today... but you made it in a sleazy way".

Justin Tate, Featured Columnist

Victor Ortiz is a strong 24-year-old with enough speed to catch anybody within the realm of three minutes, let along 12 rounds of three minutes each.

Though he’s a tough kid and his opponent is coming off a 16-month layoff, his opponent just so happens to be Floyd Mayweather.

Now Ortiz may have shown heart and raw power against Andre Berto, but many warriors with those same attributes have shown in the past to not be able to fend off the seemingly inevitable Mayweather victory. From Oscar de la Hoya, to Rick Hatton, to Diego Corrales, to Jose Luis Castillo, to Shane Mosley, many have come with power, aggression and heart and all have left without an official win over Mayweather.

If Ortiz has any distinctive variable in his fight with Mayweather, it’s his youth. Ortiz is ten years younger than a 34-year-old Mayweather. He’ll try to use that to his advantage by recovering quick from whatever Mayweather brings and giving back even more than what Mayweather can bring to begin with.

If an old Mayweather shows up, no longer quick with cat-like reflexes that avoid wrecking ball punches and deliver razor-sharp counters, he’ll lose, likely by knockout.

But if the Mayweather that only knows how to win shows up and delivers on the type of domination he’s known for, expect a masterful display of boxing beauty that will ascend him up the ranks of boxing’s current pound-for-pound greats in search of one name: Manny Pacquiao.

Vitali Shaposhnikov, Featured Columnist

Master veteran technician, versus a young hyped up fighter? Sure Ortiz is a decent fighter with decent power and a big heart. But what else? He is slow, not too accurate and most importantly he is inexperienced in the ring with this caliber of opposition. So, this will be nothing new for Floyd, but all new for Victor.

Some say Victor should get on Floyd and try to chase him to a corner, yea, pretty bad advice folks. Victor will be constantly peppered with annoying and effective counters. I see Floyd taking this fight via a very comfortable UD, something around 117-111 for Mayweather Jr.

Hougigo Martin

Using my owl like instincts, I’m going with the safe bet and calling out a UD in favor of Mayweather. While I think this though, I think that Ortiz will successfully be the first person to legitimately knock down Mayweather, Jr.

I'm going Mayweather 10 rounds to two with a knockdown in Ortriz’s favor.
117-110 Mayweather UD

Briggs Seekins, Featured Columnist

I just got done watching 24-7 and I still stand by my (prediction), I think 118-109 UD for PBF. But I hope I’m wrong. Ortiz is one of the best cast Rockys ever, except he’s not stupid.

Allan Jiang

Going to do a Tim May here and go with a Victor Ortiz KO/TKO round 3.

James Foley

I think Ortiz will give Floyd a serious run for his money, applying constant aggression while walking through punches. Floyd’s layoff and general inactivity really bother me. The fact that he hasn’t fought a young, strong guy in his prime in a long time, unless you count Hatton, a very good fighter but by no means a world-class athlete, makes me think Ortiz really has a chance. Gap in skills aside, I think Ortiz can succeed by using his strength and will. Floyd has looked amazing in training…but sometimes fighters grow old right before our eyes in the ring. So I’m gonna go out on the limb and predict Ortiz the victor in a close SD 115-112, 114-113, 112-115. Confidence level in my pick: 2/10”

Blake Dreisbach, Featured Columnist

Mayweather should be able to use his boxing IQ to win this fight pretty easily, but Ortiz is a live underdog and is known for knocking down every opponent he has faced, so that makes him one of the more dangerous opponents Mayweather has faced recently. Ortiz may have to rely on one punch and his aggression to win, and I don’t see either of those things working towards his advantage against Money May’s technical skills. Mayweather wins a unanimous decision (117-111 x3)

Steward Flaherty, Featured Columnist

Mayweather by Knockout in Round 9

Ortiz showed heart in his last fight, but that has not always been on the case and his body of work shows him to be a complete non-threat to Mayweather.

Floyd will dominate from the opening bell, win every round and put a bloodied Ortiz down for good in the ninth.

Jess Matthew Beltran

A regenerated Victor Ortiz is out to prove all the doubters wrong. Mayweather is still the fighter likely to win the fight, but you have to question. How much can a 34-year-old  fighter, with brittle hands take against a young and hungry fighter like Ortiz? We saw what happened when Mosley almost rocked Floyd but failed to sustain the energy throughout the fight. I go with the underdog, and my take would be "Vicious" Victor Ortiz in Round 6.

Bill Cody

The scorecard will read 119-109—they will give Ortiz one round as a gift. This fight is a joke and never should have been made. Ortiz is a very limited fighter, completely second tier. He does have a punch but Floyd won't let him come near him at all. Ortiz does have a decent chin, however, and Floyd can't break an egg. That's why it will go to a decision. 

To me, the real drama is whether fight fans will get conned by Golden Boy and Floyd and end up buying this farce. GBP did a good job having Ortiz fight another overrated stiff in Berto to promote the winner into a marketable commodity. But anyone with any boxing knowledge who has seen either of them fight knows they are second rate. Will the casual fan get suckered again?

So there you have it fight fans, the boxing experts at the Bleacher Report have made their official predictions once again and we shall soon see who really is a boxing expert and who should be cleaning the fighter's spit buckets instead.

For all the best fight coverage check back into the Bleacher Report all weekend long. We will be covering the whole fight week here at the boxing community.

Our next collaboration prediction piece will be on of course the Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez III fight takes place Saturday November 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas as well.

KING J is the Bleacher Report Boxing Community Leader and a Featured Columnist all official predictions were submitted verbatim to him to be used in this collaboration prediction piece.

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