Floyd Mayweather Cheap Shot: Hard to Take Money's Side Despite Legal Hit

There have been all sorts of boxing movies that have offered all kinds of advice about fighting over the years, but my all-time favorite bit of advice comes from a movie that has nothing to do with boxing.

That would be The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. At some point, Bill Murray punches Owen Wilson in the face and then tells him that the key to fighting is to, "Smile, act natural and then sucker punch."

If I didn't know any better, I'd say Floyd Mayweather Jr. got the memo.

My guess is that we all know what happened. If not, all you really need to know is that Money fought Victor Ortiz for the WBC welterweight belt in Las Vegas on Saturday night, and Money won by a fourth-round knockout that many have deemed a "cheap shot."

And it's easy to see why. Shortly after Ortiz had landed a cheap shot of his own when he headbutted Mayweather in the corner of the ring, the two fighters met in the middle, touched gloves and appeared to relax while waiting for the go-ahead from referee Joe Cortez.

But with Cortez's attention elsewhere, that's when Mayweather hit Ortiz with a two-punch combination. He was down for the count, and Mayweather had won his first bout in 16 months.

The immediate question, naturally, was whether or not Mayweather had done anything illegal. Cortez insisted after the match that he had not.

"Time was in," Cortez said, per ESPN's Dan Rafael. "The fighter needed to keep his guard up. Mayweather did nothing illegal."

Mayweather echoed Cortez's sentiment, saying: "In the ring, you have to protect yourself at all times. After it happened, we touched gloves and we were back to fighting and then I threw the left hook and right hand after the break. You just gotta protect yourself at all times."

Via the Los Angeles Times, Mayweather also hinted his quick strikes were in response to Ortiz's headbutt.

"What goes around comes around," he said.

It's really hard to argue any of these points. Mayweather did nothing illegal, Ortiz failed to abide by the oldest rule in boxing, and he also got what he deserved. Instead of scolding Mayweather, maybe we should be applauding him.

But I highly doubt that most of the skeptics in this case are ever going to be able to bring themselves to do such a thing. After all, despite all the talk about Mayweather being in the right, it's just hard to shake the notion that there was something just plain wrong about the whole situation.

Much of this has to do, I think, with the fact that the conclusion of the fight was just such a bummer. It came so suddenly, and Mayweather may as well have been punching a scarecrow.

In a sense, the fight didn't come to a conclusion. It just kind of ended.

And it's Mayweather's fault that it ended. He saw an open window and he took advantage of it, totally ignoring the idea that he had to give the fans a fight worth their money, which, as you well know, is oh-so-important these days.

Sure, hitting Ortiz (twice) when he least expected it was a shrewd move. But whether or not Mayweather wants to admit it, it was also taking the easy way out. And at the end of the day, that's just plain disappointing.

Because of that, 42-0 just doesn't look as impressive as it should.