Mayweather vs. Ortiz: Knockout Gives Both Fighters Big-Money Opportunities

Floyd Mayweather took a cheap shot and knocked out Victor Ortiz in the fourth round of their WBC Welterweight Championship fight. Call it what you will, it was a cheap shot.

But the controversial ending has now left the boxing world wondering what comes next.

Everyone is still waiting on the potential Manny Pacquiao/Floyd Mayweather mega-brawl that could haul $100 million, but as everyone already knows, that is as likely as the Klitschko brothers fighting each other at this point.

Mayweather and Pacquiao have gone back and forth on pre-fight drug testing, and there seems to be no middle ground.

So where does that leave Mayweather, a 34-year-old fighter with no losses on his record and a ton of money on the table?

And Ortiz? The 24-year-old is still coming into his own and is 29-3-2 in his professional career.

Mayweather will flock to the most money not attached to the name "Pacquiao."

Pacquiao has a fight in November with Juan Manuel Marquez, the third in their series. Pac-Man fought to a draw with JMM the first time and beat him by split decision the second.

The fight is, without question, the best fight Pacquiao could get other than Mayweather.

So this means Mayweather has time to determine if he wants to fight someone else while he knows Pacquiao is going to take some licks at the hands of JMM.

The most likely scenario is Amir Khan. The British fighter would give Mayweather the best bang for his buck in both the United States and United Kingdom.

Floyd "Money" Mayweather is all about money, and this fight would fetch the biggest pay day.

Mayweather is reportedly going to return to the ring for "three-to-four fights in next 18 months" according to ESPN. If he is ever going to fight Pacquiao, it will come after he earns money from the Khan fight.

As for Ortiz, he earned a leg up in both finances and popularity. He was losing the fight before the knockout, but he was in the fight, and even won the second round. His $2.5 million pay day was a substantial increase from his previous fight.

He'll likely give Andre Berto a rematch after the Haitian-American serves a mandatory defense against Randall Bailey. The IBF Welterweight champion only has one blemish on his resume and it belongs to Ortiz. The public and the boxing world will not be disappointed in that rematch, and there will be money to be made.

But while Ortiz's career will continue to go forward, it is the ending of Mayweather's career that has everyone interested.

Boxing has long been waiting for a marquee fight and the only one available is Pac-Man vs. Money.

Expect the Khan fight to come first, and after Mayweather takes more money to the bank, we can only hope he opens up to a showdown with Pacquiao.