It wasn't a cheap shot that Floyd Mayweather threw in his championship bout against Jayhawker Victor Ortiz ... after all, the undefeated and still champion of the worrrrrrld walked out of the ring with $25 million boxes of ziti after that fight.

In other words, Ortiz got it on the chin, Mayweather got in the bank.

For those of you who missed it, Floyd "Money" Mayweather (42-0) defended his title a few weeks ago against Victor Ortiz (29-3-2), a fighter 10 years his junior and in an entirely different league.

Though the 34-year-old Mayweather appeared a bit paunchy, he retained and/or won a portion of the welterweight title, if anyone out there cares, and he did so in dramatic fashion -- namely, by smacking Ortiz around the ring for three rounds, in merciless fashion.

Finally, Ortiz fought back. He summoned up the courage and landed a few combinations. He got Mayweather on the ropes and instead of using his fists, he bulled into Mayweather, head butting him in mouth.

The referee, Joe Cortez, immediately separated the two fighters and took a point from Ortiz. And then Ortiz inexplicably went all peacenik on Mayweather.

Watch the fight on YouTube (I did ... I wasn't paying the $50 for the pay-per-view) and you will see Ortiz touch gloves with Mayweather, then hug him, then kiss him on the cheek. As Cortez handled ringside business, Ortiz again tried to make peace with Mayweather, but was unable to score another kiss. Then Cortez gave the signal to resume, but Ortiz kept his gloves down and moved in for a little more sugar.

Mayweather had enough smooching. He smashed Ortiz with a left hook, then dropped him with a straight right. Cortez stopped the fight.

The crowd booed. It looked like a wrestling scenario ... it was as if you were waiting for the British Bulldogs to come running into the ring with folding chairs as "Mean" Gene Ockurland tried to make sense of the fracas.

Instead, Mayweather sparred with HBO's Larry Merchant (who comically said he?d have decked Mayweather if he was 50 years younger ... yeah, in an alternate universe, maybe) and told the truth.

"We touched gloves and we were back to fighting and then I threw the left and right hand after the break," Mayweather said. "In the ring you have to protect yourself at all times."

Cortez agreed, even if he seemed stunned as it happened in the ring.

"I made the signal," he said. "You don't have to say anything. These guys know the rules. Victor made two mistakes -- his first one was being a bad boy, and his second one was being too much of a good boy.?

And that's the lesson learned here, kids. Cheap shot? Naw ... you're in the ring to fight, not hug and kiss. Roger that, Victor?