Mayweather Ortiz Referee Joe Cortez' Words Say No, but Gestures Say Go

Is Floyd Mayweather Jr. 42-0?

This will be a question of debate for years to come, not just weeks. As soon as the head of Victor Ortiz hit the canvas, fingers began to point. Mayweather sucker punched Ortiz, referee Joe Cortez wasn't looking; Ortiz had his gloves down not protecting himself.

With only seconds left in the fourth round of the World Boxing Council's Welterweight Championship, Victor Ortiz was counted out with Mayweather leading three rounds to zero heading into the fourth and landing two unprecedented blows to the face of Ortiz.

Cortez has been quoted as saying a boxer must protect themselves at all times, but did Cortez drop the ball in what is being called a classic example of Mayweather's arrogance?

In basketball when a “time-out” is called, play stops in addition to the clock. The horns sound indicating the “time-out” is over and play resumes once the ball is inbounded. The same goes, to some degree, in boxing. As a USA Boxing official, the rulebook states that a referee my call “time-out” and “time-in.” In addition to this, an official has only three commands: box, break and stop.

After reviewing the bout, you can hear Cortez using the command, “Alright, let’s go” instead of “Box.” Is this a problem? No, not unless it is confusing to the boxers. In reviewing the bout, you can also hear Cortez call “Time-out” and “Time-in,” but when was the command “time-in” given? It was given after he had already given the command “Let’s go.”

This poses the question: Was Ortiz prepared to fight having heard the predeceasing command “time-out” with no “time-in” given? There is no question that Ortiz had his gloves at the waist of Mayweather as Cortez called “Time-in” subsequently leading to a left-hook, straight-right dropping Ortiz to the canvas.

Unable to access the World Boxing Council’s website to reference, the World Boxing Organization states in its Regulations of World Championship Contests: The Referee shall be the chief official in all Championship contests and shall be in charge of the control of the fight. The regulations also state: The contestants may shake hands before the fight immediately after the instructions of the Referee; however, they may not shake hands again until the fight is over.

This leads us to the following answers:

 Yes, Ortiz was apologizing to Mayweather during the time-out.

 Yes, Mayweather hit Ortiz during the time-out.

 Yes, Cortez gave the command “Let’s go” during the time-out.

Is it all semantics, or does something need to be done with the way boxing officials give and state commands? The physical gestures are clear: lean in and tell the boxers to “stop,” separate the boxers to “break,” drop the hand or bring both hands together to “box.” Or is it as Tony Weeks says, “I got you” for break and as Joe Cortez says, “Let’s go” for box?