Victor Ortiz and Oscar De La Hoya are addressing the media Monday at 11 a.m. PDT, and the assumption seems to be that they won?t announce any particular action. They?re merely expected to cast Ortiz?s Sept. 17 loss to Floyd Mayweather in the most favorable light possible.
Toward that end, I?m here to defend Ortiz from the slander that was perpetrated upon him last Monday by ESPN?s Teddy Atlas during an interview with Ralph Barbieri and Tom Tolbert on San Francisco?s KNBR (680-AM).
A minute before the fourth-round ?knockout,? Ortiz?s bizarre headbutt precipitated the other weirdness that ensued, so his costly quest to make amends isn?t totally unwarranted, even if it did leave him open for the cheap-shot one-two that ended the bout before it had truly resumed. Ortiz has apologized more than sufficiently.
Look for De La Hoya to emphasize that point Monday. The Golden Boy Promotions executive was the one who seemed most outraged by the ?unfair? conclusion of the bout, based on what we could see in Saturday?s replay on HBO. De La Hoya also defends Ortiz?s need to turn the fight into a brawl .
