Your random thoughts …
? When I updated ESPN.com’s September pound-for-pound rankings this week, Floyd Maweather Jr., who had dropped off the list after being idle for more than a year, returned to his No. 2 position behind No. 1 Manny Pacquiao after knocking out Victor Ortiz two weeks ago. If you believe that Mayweather should be No. 1, that is also perfectly reasonable. The only way to settle the discussion? Obviously, Pacquiao and Mayweather need to fight.
Speaking of Mayweather, I continue to hear from a lot of readers who are upset because he didn’t show great sportsmanship or somehow wasn’t classy in the way he knocked out Ortiz, who had his hands down and wasn’t looking when he was dropped. I’m fine with the knockout because the two punches that ended the fight were legal shots and the onus was on Ortiz, who had flagrantly head-butted Mayweather moments earlier, to protect himself when time was in. It’s his problem that he screwed up and got drilled while Mayweather was playing by the rules.
I’m further perplexed as to why anyone expected Mayweather, who has thoroughly embraced his villain role, to be classy in the ring? Was he classy when he severely cursed out his father on national television during “24/7”? What about when he made a vile internet video disparaging Pacquiao, during which Mayweather made fun of the fact Pacquiao is Asian while using homophobic language? What about when Floyd was shown on video at a nightclub setting money on fire in the middle of a crushing national recession? Mayweather also faces a half-dozen legal cases, including one in which he is accused of domestic violence against the mother of his children. Not being classy inside the ring? That’s the least of his issues.
? Off the top of my head, there are three top candidates for fight of the year at this point: Hernan “Tyson” Marquez-Luis Concepcion, Ortiz-Andre Berto and Delvin Rodriguez-Pawel Wolak. Marquez and Concepcion meet in a rematch Oct. 29. Rodriguez and Wolak fight again on Dec. 3. Ortiz needs to get over his debacle with Mayweather and quit begging for that rematch, which he obviously isn’t going to get in the near future (and doesn’t deserve anyway). Instead, there are a whole lot of people who would line up to see a rematch with Berto. It’s a fight for which he can make good money, win another welterweight belt and, by winning, lay the foundation for actually earning a rematch with Mayweather.
