"I was once told protect yourself at all times. I got hit with a headbutt, I got hit with elbows, I didn't cry and complain. I done what I had to do as a fighter," remarked Floyd Mayweather when asked about his knockout victory over Victor Ortiz. After being deducted a point for a blatant headbutt, Ortiz was brutally knocked out in the fourth round by Mayweather when he left his guard down, failing to protect himself at all times, after referee Joe Cortez instructed both fighters to resume fighting.
"You know, my mouth was split open in the front and in the inside, so I was like, 'Keep it clean. Keep it clean,' so we touched gloves; it's fight time. Once we touch gloves, it's fight time. It's open season," Mayweather would explain. "When you in a fight, in such an intense fight, only fighters understand this, you don't hear everything, but, you know, when they break us sometimes, you hear it. But I just went out there to do what I had to do."
When asked if he was aware that Joe Cortez instructed them to keep fighting prior to the knockout, Mayweather replied, "I mean, we came together to fight. He got the points deducted, we touched; it was fight time, you know, from what I know. I mean, it's like, you hit me, you want to do me dirty and then two minutes later, oh, we like friends? It's like, it's the hurt business, it's boxing. We gotta get it in."
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