Mayweather vs. Ortiz: Why Defeat Was Best Thing for Ortiz

Ideally, you never want to lose. But there are times when losing is a lot more valuable to the losing party than a win would have been. In this case, the losing party is Victor Ortiz.

Before I go on, I know that Ortiz lost his title to Mayweather. That's never an ideal scenario. But look at the first four rounds of that fight.

Mayweather was easily ahead in the cards. When you consider his reputation, him blowing a significant lead is hardly a realistic scenario. Ortiz headbutted Mayweather out of frustration. He had Mayweather in the corner, but couldn't land a significant punch on him.

I don't know what it tells you, but it tells me that a knockout was not going to happen. Could it have happened? Sure, it could have happened. But Mayweather has made a career out of beating people in the exact way that he was beating Ortiz. He's such a strong defensive fighter that it's pretty fair to predict that he would have won by a unanimous decision had the fight gone 12 rounds.

But, as well all know now, the fight didn't go 12 rounds.

Instead of going down as another fighter to lose to Mayweather, Ortiz is now something of a sympathetic character. He's the guy that got sucker punched.

Now, I don't quite see it that way, but my opinion seems to be the minority.

Again, an ideal scenario for Ortiz would have been a win. No fighter is going to go into a fight hoping that they can lose but be a sympathetic loser in the process.

While this wasn’t a part of the original game plan, it’s not a bad thing to happen. Any champion deserves a rematch when he drops his title. But in this situation, the champion earned an amount of sympathy that he wouldn’t have earned in a normal defeat.

With the obvious exception of a Pacquiao vs. Mayweather fight, a Mayweather vs. Ortiz rematch is the top fight that most fans want to see.

A week ago at this time, if someone had told you that Mayweather would win in a fourth-round knockout, would you have envisioned that scenario?