Mayweather vs. Ortiz: Why Money Must Keep His Mouth Shut Until Victor Ortiz Bout

When Floyd Mayweather, Jr. fights, he tends to bother his opponent.

When Floyd Mayweather, Jr. talks, he tends to bother his opponent, and everyone else too. And, as you may have noticed, the dude likes to talk.

This is particularly true of the last year or so. Despite the fact he hasn't fought anybody since last May, talking has been one of Money's primary ways of staying in the spotlight. The other has been getting in trouble with Johnny Law.

And Money certainly hasn't ceased talking in the months and weeks leading up to this Saturday's bout with Victor Ortiz. Mayweather has talked the fight up, and has, naturally, also talked down Ortiz. This is all well and good, mind you, but Mayweather may have crossed the line when he openly pontificated about Ortiz's upbringing at a press conference in Las Vegas yesterday (Ron Borges of the Boston Herald wrote a good story on it).

Because the fight is just a couple days away now, I think now is good time to issue an ultimatum to Mr. Mayweather:

You need to shut up now. You've talked enough. More than enough, in fact.

To prove the point, here are three reasons why Money needs to shut his trap.

Are You Nuts, Floyd?

At this point, I think it goes without saying that Money has a few screws loose. You can call the guy a force of nature if you want, but I prefer to think of him as an id run amok. And it's only getting worse.

Hey, I'm not the only one who thinks so. In a recent interview with Yahoo! Sports, famed promoter Bob Arum questioned Money's sanity:

"

You act a certain way [and] you are going to be judged upon it. If you act like you are insane, that is what people are going to think. If you act responsibly and professionally, then people will treat you that way. I guess when you are dealing with Mayweather, you have to stop asking rational questions because maybe we are not dealing with a rational guy anymore. You just have to take it as it is.

"

Now, it should be noted that Arum would talk smack about Mayweather. The two don't exactly like each other, and, of course, never have. Arum, founder and CEO of Top Rank, also has a rivalry with Golden Boy Promotions, Mayweather's promoter, to consider.

But that doesn't mean Arum's not right. When it comes to Mayweather, you have to check any notions of rationality at the door. He is indeed not a rational man, and one can only bear his irrationality for so long.

Sure, talking is part of Money's job, but that brings me to point number two.

Enough is Enough

Money has been running his mouth ever since he announced to the world back in June that he was going to be fighting Ortiz.

That was three months ago, and the fight is now looming. Mayweather is fighting Ortiz, he's going to win, blah blah blah.

Yeah, we get it. No need to hype this thing any more. It's been hyped enough.

Don't worry, we're still going to watch. There's just no need at this point to keep selling us on the fact that we need to watch.

Talk is Cheap

Yo Floyd, your last fight was something like 16 months ago. Your record still says you're 41-0, but you're not going to make it 42-0 just by talking. You need to get in the ring and throw some punches.

Yes, Money is an outstanding boxer, and you obviously have to like his chances against Ortiz. But it's not a foregone conclusion that Mayweather is going to win. He's had a very long layoff, and hasn't fought a legitimate opponent in two years.

The last time we saw Ortiz in the ring, however, was just a few short months ago. He also happened to win the WBC Welterweight title from Andre Berto, who was 27-0 at the time.

Oh, and Ortiz is also 10 years younger than Money. Victory is not guaranteed.

If you ask me, it's fair to say Mayweather's reputation is riding on this bout. If he wins, he can talk all he wants. If he loses, my hope is that people will know better than to listen.