Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Victor Ortiz

Star Power

Date	September 17, 2011
Venue	MGM Grand, Staples Center
Title(s) on the line	WBC Welterweight Championship
Tale of the tape
Boxer Victor Ortiz Floyd Mayweather Jr. Nickname Vicious Money Hometown Oxnard, California Las Vegas, Nevada Pre-fight record 29–2–2 (22 KO) 41–0–0 (25 KO) Height 5 ft 9.7 in (177 cm) 5 ft 8 in (173 cm) Recognition WBC Welterweight Champion
Result
Floyd Mayweather via Knockout win in the 4th round.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Victor Ortiz, billed as Star Power, was a championship fight for Ortiz's WBC Welterweight title. The bout was held on September 17, 2011, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada and televised via HBO PPV. As a part of a split-site doubleheader, the broadcast also featured the Saul Alvarez vs. Alfonso Gomez Light Middleweight championship bout taking place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

The Fight

From round one, Mayweather used his speed, skills and accurate right hand to tag Ortiz repeatedly. Mayweather seemed in control through the first three rounds (judges scores: 30–27, 30–27, 29–28 for Mayweather), but in the fourth round, Ortiz found some success, landing a few shots and stinging Mayweather before bulling him into the corner. Then Ortiz rammed Mayweather in the face with an intentional headbutt, busting open a cut on the inside and outside of Mayweather's mouth, which, if had landed on the upper eye, would have forced a call to the cards if called unintentional by Cortez, per the rules of the sanctioning body. Referee Joe Cortez immediately called timeout and docked Ortiz a point for the foul. Ortiz – seemingly acknowledging his wrongdoing – hugged and even kissed Mayweather in the corner. Cortez motioned the fighters back together to resume the fight. The fighters touched gloves and Mayweather seemed to half-heartedly return another hug from Ortiz. Then, with Cortez looking away from the fighters, and as the fighters separated from the hug, Mayweather caught Ortiz with a left hook. Stunned by the punch, and still not raising his hands to defend himself, Ortiz seemed to stare at Cortez as if to say "did you see that?" Mayweather then hit Ortiz with a flush right to the face. Ortiz dropped straight onto the canvas and was unable to beat Cortez's count.

"In the ring, you have to protect yourself at all times," Mayweather said. "After it happened, we touched gloves and we were back to fighting and then I threw the left hook and right hand after the break. You just gotta protect yourself at all times." Mayweather then told interviewer Larry Merchant that he should be fired and shouted many expletives at him after Larry Merchant asked if what he did was unsportsmanlike.

Fight earnings

Mayweather was paid a guaranteed $25 million, which can go as high as $40 million depending on the pay per view numbers, and Ortiz was paid $2 million.

Mayweather vs. Victor Ortiz generated buys from 1.25 million homes with a value of $78,440,000 in pay-per-view revenue. These numbers make the event the third highest grossing non-heavyweight pay-per-view event of all time.

Main card

• Welterweight Championship bout Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Victor Ortiz
  • Mayweather defeats Ortiz via Knockout at 2:59 of the fourth round

• Light Welterweight Championship bout Erik Morales vs. Pablo César Cano
  • Morales defeats Cano via Technical Knockout at 3:00 of the tenth round.

• Light Welterweight bout Jesús Vargas vs. Josésito López
  • Vargas defeated López via Split Decision (95–94, 94–95, 96–93)

Preliminary card

• Welterweight bout Carson Jones vs Said Ouali
  • Jones defeats Ouali via Technical Knockout (Retirement) at 3:00 of the seventh round.

• Super Middleweight bout Adonis Stevenson vs. Dion Savage
  • Stevenson defeats Savage via Technical Knockout at 1:57 of the first round.

• Super Middleweight bout Marco Antonio Periban vs. Carson Jones
  • Periban defeats Jones via Unanimous Decision. (80–72, 79–73, 79–73)

• Lightweight bout Anthony Crolla vs. Juan Montiel
  • Crolla defeats Montiel via Split Decision. (78–74, 77–75, 75–77)

International broadcasting

Country	Broadcaster
Albania	SuperSport Albania
Argentina	TyC Sports
Australia	Main Event
Belgium	Be Sport 1
Cambodia	CTN
Czech Republic	Sport 1
Denmark	TV 2 Sport
France	Canal+ Sport
Hungary	Sport 1
Germany	Eurosport
Iceland	Stöð 2 Sport
Indonesia	tvOne
Italy	Sportitalia
Japan	WOWOW
Malaysia	Astro SuperSport
Mexico	Televisa
New Zealand	Sky
Norway	Viasat Sport
Philippines	Solar Sports/TV5/IBC-13
Poland	Polsat Sport
Portugal	Sport TV
Qatar	Al Jazeera Sports
Romania	Sport.ro
Russia	NTV Plus
Slovakia	Sport 1
Spain	Digital+
Sweden	TV10
South Africa	SuperSport
United Kingdom	Primetime
United States	HBO PPV
Venezuela	Meridiano