Quote Originally Posted by IamInuit View Post
I remember Ferdie Pacheco questioning McClellan’s heart prior to his collapse.

Tough cause everyone is different. Liston fought with a broken jaw but could not fight with a dislocated shoulder yet guys like Pascal and McGirt could. I do not think as others have mentioned here and elsewhere that Ortiz has the brain pan of a fighter. It’s almost as if he took it as a second job or hobby and lucked out along the way. The Mayweather fight sealed the deal for me. Ortiz was just plain weird before, during and after the stoppage.

Having said that, boxers are not obligated to be taken out on a stretcher. I’ve never had a broken jaw so I’m not sure how I would react let alone finishing a fight with one. Ali finished and so did Abe but that was after a long break and coaching by the ref. I wonder how many other highly regarded fighters today would fight or flight with such an injury.

I have no desire for another Parent, Owen, Moore, Knox, Johnson, Kim, Sanders or Campbell to name a few. Fighters do not have to die in the ring on my account.
I get what you're saying, but you've taken it to an extreme here (I believe the phrase is 'reductio ad absurdum); I don't think Ortiz was in any danger of dying at the hands of Lopez last night. He had a simple choice to make between suffering through the last 12 minutes in agony and winning the fight, and going home early and potentially dealing irreparable damage to his reputation. He chose the latter. Worse still, he didn't even look upset about it, he was quite hearty in his congratulations of Lopez for bringing the fight to a premature end. I'm sorry, but that is not a fighter's mentality. Boxing is brutal and if you have want to rise to the top you can't give up just because things get tough - and you certainly don't congratulate your opponent for forcing you to quit. It shows a deeply disturbing psychological fragility tbh, and that's not just something that is applicable to the ring. Of course Ortiz has the right to walk away, he is his own man and I can respect that - but it doesn't change the fact that he is clearly in the wrong business if his gut instinct is to quit when things get hard. I don't say that to disrespect him, it's just an objective observation - he simply can't compete at an elite level with that mentality, and I'm sure his aim is not to be mediocre, or just 'good'.