Jim Rome Discusses Mayweather vs Ortiz and Manny Pacquiao

Jim Rome weighed in on the controversial fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr and Victor Ortiz. You can listen to the podcast here, but this is the part I wanted to point out. Transcript thanks to Zach Arnold of FightOpinion, who saved me the time of typing, which is a real bum part of blogging:

"Mayweather, meanwhile, not only wasn’t apologizing for how he won, he actually thought it was good for business. As long as you’re looking at him and talking about him, he’s happy.

‘Hey man, I’m good. Controversy is okay. Nothing wrong with some controversy to get people talking. It’s all good.’

"Yeah, it’s all good… for you. Now go ask the million-plus who dropped crazy jack for that PPV if they think it’s all good because I’m guessing a good chunk of them don’t. They wanted to see a clean, natural ending to that fight, not you clocking a guy while he was still apologizing and not prepared to defend himself. Again, it may have been legal, but it wasn’t clean and fight fans got jammed yet again and they’re bent and I can see why. I mean, when was the last time you threw for a PPV card and actually felt like you got your money’s worth?

"As far as the fight that would be worth your money, Mayweather insists that he doesn’t need Pacquiao."

I, too, was incredibly bent about getting jammed after dropping crazy jack for that PPV. I threw for this PPV, and here I am, all upset. Business as usual!

Who the hell talks like this?

Anyway, Rome probably speaks for a good portion of the audience, but I don't know that it's the portion of the audience he believes it is.

As for his last question, "Whe was the last time you threw for (God...) a PPV card and actually felt like you got your money's worth?" I can only say this: I cannot remember the last time a majority of the paying audience was happy about a major pay-per-view. I can answer Rome's question for myself very quickly by saying "the Maidana vs Morales show in April," but Jim Rome didn't care about that and to be entirely fair to him, apparently boxing fans didn't either since about 16 people dropped crazy jack on it. I can say that I don't remember anyone feeling as though they got jammed after throwing for that one, however.

But for Pacquiao or Mayweather shows? There's always a problem. Let's run down the recent streak, in chronological order:

Pacquiao vs De La Hoya: Horrific, all-time worst garbage undercard. Legitimate, valid criticism, by the way. That undercard still insults me to this day.

Pacquiao vs Hatton: Two-round main event.

Mayweather vs Marquez: 76-round main event, or at least it felt like it.

Pacquiao vs Cotto: Actually, were any of you bent about this one? Were you feeling jammed? I thought it was a good fight. It did have that Godawful Julio Cesar Chavez Jr undercard snoozer though.

Pacquiao vs Clottey: Grandmaster Josh does the turtle for 12 rounds and bores the world to tears.

Mayweather vs Mosley: Got one-sided real fast.

Pacquiao vs Margarito: It had Margarito. For many, this is a big issue.

Pacquiao vs Mosley: Really? Mosley again? The huggin' and glove tappin' really got me bent. Enough already. This was a familiar complaint.

Mayweather vs Ortiz: Well, this time a guy tried to hug too many times and got socked in the chin for it. This apparently also is a crime. WE CAN NEVER WIN WITH YOU PEOPLE!

What do I mean, "You people?"

Look, though, seriously: Outside of Pacquiao vs Cotto, every single one of these shows was bitched about the next day, the next week, beforehand, whatever, for various reasons. And yet the same people buy the next one, apparently, because they keep selling.

There is a good argument, I guess, that it's definitely not the ending people paid to see. But how could it have been? Who would have thought this was even a possibility going in? Did anyone have money on this? If so, they made crazy jack from throwing that. But I get what he means with that. Still, if Mayweather had done what most expected -- won an easy, wide 12-round decision -- what's the upside? People would still be bitching about wasting their money on another one-sided fight, and by today nobody would care about what happened Saturday at all.

So I understand the "I'll never buy a pay-per-view again! Not for that crazy jack!" sort of people, but (1) they probably will, and (2) we've heard it all before.

Rome had plenty more to say about Mayweather vs Pacquiao, drug testing, how he feels that Victor Ortiz did sort of get what he had coming, and more. It's a good listen if you can stomach Rome being Rome, and by now I'm sure you're all familiar with Jim Rome, so you know what I mean. And if not, don't get bent at me for not warning you.