It has now been eleven months since Floyd Mayweather last competed in an exhibition, and the pound-for-pound legend is set to announce his first outing of 2024, where he will face a familiar opponent.
Mayweather’s most recent exhibition came against John Gotti III last June, where chaos ensued inside of the ring but outside of the fight. The referee waived the contest off in the sixth-round, causing frustration from the teams of both men and tempers and team members spilled over into the ring.
This resulted in a mass brawl that was nothing short an embarrassment to the sport but an inevitability given the nature of Mayweather’s exhibitions up until that point – that had been glorified spars where the 47-year-old laughed in the face of his opponents and the pay-per-view customers.
According to ESPN’s Salvador Rodriguez, Mayweather’s next ‘fight’ could prove to be the most intriguing of any of his exhibitions to date, as he gears up to fight Víctor Ortiz, almost four years after their controversial first encounter.
“Mayweather in [Mexico]
“They tell me that Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather will announce an exhibition fight against Víctor ‘Vicious’ Ortiz for August 24 at the Plaza de Toros México… Wednesday they give more details. Mayweather KO4 Ortiz in 2011 by catching him with his guard down after a headbutt.
“They are also checking the Mexico City Arena and even the Zócalo for the event. It is likely that Alan Picasso will join in.
“It will be defined tomorrow, but Mayweather could offer a public training on Thursday at the Zócalo CDMX.”
Mayweather challenged Ortiz for the WBC welterweight crown back in September 2011 and Ortiz found himself having points deductions for headbutting the challenger in both rounds one and four.
Upon the second interference from the referee in the fourth, Ortiz went to touch gloves and apologise to Mayweather but was greeted by a brutal two-punch combination that dropped him to the canvas and was unable to beat the count.
During the post-fight interview, an unapologetic Mayweather advised Ortiz to ‘protect himself at all times’ before admitting that he would be open to a rematch and then famously arguing with Larry Merchant.
Although, the rematch never came, as Ortiz would be stopped again in each of his next two fights, against Josesito Lopez and Luis Collazo respectively – never to return to a world title contest.
Ortiz hung up the gloves in 2022, following a unanimous-decision win over Todd Manuel but a rematch with Mayweather, who retired five years prior, would give him the chance to exact some kind of revenge upon the man who effectively cheated him out of his world title and put an early end to his career at the peak of the sport.
The event will likely be yet another pay-per-view attraction, after the Gotti III card was available to purchase in the U.K. for around £13.
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