In the first part of my latest interview with HBO Sports' Bert Sugar, we took a look at this weekend's heavyweight title clash between Wladimir Klitschko and David Haye. Not wanting to leave anyone out, I was also sure to get Sugar's take on another one of the sport's biggest stories, the recently announced Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz welterweight title showdown, set to take place on September 17th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Love him or loathe him, you can’t really understate what the braggadocios 34-year Mayweather brings to the sport, as the Ortiz matchup very well could be looked at as this year’s biggest extravaganza. Opening up on the matchup, you can sense Sugar’s enthusiasm being toned down by his personal curiosities.
"I just don't know if we will see the old Floyd Mayweather or an older Floyd Mayweather,” Sugar stated candidly. “He's been out for sixteen months. He seems to be, most of the time, and I was at the press conference, talking about Manny Pacquiao. And you have to understand Ortiz. What is he, 29-2-2 with 27 knockouts? He's knocked down an opponent in every fight, even the two he's lost and the two he drew. He brings power."
Ortiz certainly does bring some heat to the table, most recently evidenced by his April get down with then-WBC champion Andre Berto. In that fight Ortiz would survive two knockdowns of his own as he floored Berto twice himself on his way towards seizing the victory.
With the victory came the shattering of the notion that Ortiz was a quitter, as suggested by his June 2009 loss to Marcos Maidana, and Sugar feels fully that we have a different kind of fighter on our hands.
"I think he's come again as a main attraction fighter. I think he put that [loss] behind him. I think that was a regeneration of a fighter,” Sugar boasted of the 24-year old champion.
Source: Examiner.com
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