When a fighter loses in a controversial manner, some sour grapes are to be expected. When those gripes are delivered at a post-fight press conference they are, to most, understandable. When they are delivered via conference call more than a week later they are, to everyone, embarrassing.
On Monday, Victor Ortiz ? along with his promoter, Oscar De La Hoya and manager, Rolando Arellano ? held a call to discuss his Sept. 17 knockout loss to Floyd Mayweather. And it didn?t take long for the call to spin out of control.
Some of the (low)lights:
? Ortiz claimed that his head butt of Mayweather ? as overt, unsportsmanlike and illegal a shot as you will see in boxing ? was prompted by Mayweather?s incessant elbowing, something Ortiz says he had repeatedly warned referee Joe Cortez about before the fight. ?He released the elbow on me,? said Ortiz. ?I released the head butt.?
? De La Hoya, whose feuding with Mayweather has escalated in recent months, claimed that none of his past opponents would have delivered the kind of cheap shots that Mayweather knocked Ortiz out with. ?Not even a [Ricardo] Mayorga would have done that,? De La Hoya said. ?Not even a Fernando Vargas. That?s a new technique that must be taught in boxing.?
