Mayweather vs. Ortiz: What Title Fight Told Us About State of Boxing

Floyd Mayweather knocked out Victor Ortiz just as it seemed the fight was getting good and now the most talked about fight for the past few months has come and gone.

In its absence are a couple of truths that were revealed by this high profile action.

Boxing Can't Get Out of its Own Way

Boxing has tumbled from a spot of prominence in the national sports landscape. While this can be attributed to things like the rise of MMA fighting and countless other sports cutting into the sporting fans limited attention span, this tumble has been largely self inflicted.

Boxing has been racked by too many lackluster fights, scandals and allegations of fight fixing. 

When fights roll along that do capture the attention of the masses, boxing needs these fights to be spectacular and entertaining.

Floyd Mayweather was putting on a show in his fight with Ortiz. Then things took a turn for the worse. Ortiz senselessly and blatantly headbutted Mayweather. The ref broke them up, but he did not send the fighters to a neutral corner like he should have.

This allowed Ortiz to engage in his repetitive apologetic hugs. He continued them right past the fuzzy moment Mayweather's right resumed. His apologies left him vulnerable to being knocked out, and that is exactly what happened.

Ortiz was knocked cold and he never thought it was coming. I don't think Mayweather was wrong for doing what he did. It was a live fight. But that doesn't change the fact that this was a cheap knockout.

The fans at the arena didn't get their money's worth. Nor did the fans that purchased this fight on pay-per-view.

This was a chance for boxing to shine and it fell flat on its face once again.

Boxing Needs Pacquiao vs. Mayweather

One thing was abundantly clear leading up to this fight: people are still interested in Floyd Mayweather. He is one of the few stars remaining. He also showed that age has not stripped him of any of his skills.

A fight between the two superstars would be as relevant as ever. This fight would get the entire sports world buzzing from the moment it was announced until long after it was concluded.

This bout would be powerful enough to pull the entire industry on its coattails.