Heroes & Villains

Contrasting styles make great fights and Floyd Mayweather vs. Victor Ortiz are two fighters with vastly different approaches. Ortiz, 24, is an aggressive young fighter who relies on his natural strength and can smash with either hand. Mayweather, 34, is regarded as one of the best counterpunchers in the sport, using great hand speed and footwork to outfox his opponents. Forty-one fighters have tried to bring Mayweather out of his defensive shell, and 41 have failed. Can Ortiz finally crack the code to Mayweather's impenetrable defense? That's the $25-million question fight fans are looking forward to see in tonight's welterweight championship bout at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

The tale of the tape:
-- Age: Mayweather 34; Ortiz 24
-- Weight: Mayweather 146.5; Ortiz 147
-- Height: Mayweather 5-8; Ortiz 5-9
-- Reach: Mayweather 72"; Ortiz 70"
-- Stance: Mayweather (orthodox); Ortiz (southpaw)
-- Pro Record: Mayweather 41-0, 25 KOs; Ortiz 29-2-2, 22 KOs

The preliminary bouts will start at 6 p.m. PST. The live round-by-round coverage, with my scores for each round, will begin at approximately 8 p.m. PST. on this site using Coveritlive.com: SportsFanLive.com/heroesvillains