Recently I ran across Stephen A. Smith, one of the more colorful media personalities in sports these days. Smith is known best for his work with ESPN over the years and despite often focusing his attention to basketball, the Queens, New York native is a definite fight fan at heart and made a point to be in town for last month?s Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz bout at the MGM Grand.
The fight appeared to be heating up in the fourth round when Ortiz decided to deliberately nail Mayweather with a head-butt as he had him pinned to the ropes. It was a shock to see Ortiz lash out in such a manner and Smith showed his disdain towards the 24-year old?s actions throughout the fight.
?Ortiz got exactly what he deserved,? Smith stated. ?He was cheating throughout the fight. He head-butted him three times, and the last head butt was so flagrant that the referee deducted a point. Then he goes in there and he hugs him and tries to apologize to him.?
Seconds after Ortiz?s apology to Mayweather, he would be greeted by a left-right combination from Mayweather that he never saw coming. Ortiz was dropped and counted out seconds later, with the victory going to Mayweather, and despite some calling Floyd?s punches ?cheap shots?, Smith could sympathize with how everything went down.
?Forget that fact that you have to protect yourself at all times, that?s a given,? Smith continued. ?The fact of the matter is that what Floyd did was retaliate because he had cheated three times. There is a rare moment in boxing when you deserve your ass kicked because you cheated that flagrantly. This is one of them. I have no problem with that happening whatsoever.?
While the public?s demand for a Mayweather showdown with fellow superstar Manny Pacquiao seems to be wavering, it still would make for one of the biggest fights in the history of the sport. Smith says there is much more going on that just the posturing over Olympic-style drug testing and answered whether or not we will ever see the fantasized encounter materialize.
?I hope so. That?s up to Pacquiao and Mayweather. And I don?t think it?s just about steroids and all of that stuff, whatever Floyd and them are talking about. I think it has a lot to do with money as well. The more everybody keeps favoring the fight, the more money seems to be put on the table. This might be the first fight where actually guys split 100 million dollars.?
