By Jeff Aranow: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder (39-0, 38 KOs) says he’s got too much talent for Luis ‘The Real King Kong’ Ortiz (28-0, 24 KOs) to be able to hurt him in their fight on March 3 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
(Photo credit: Esther Lin/SHOWTIME)
Wilder says Ortiz hasn’t fought anyone with his ability during his career, and he feels that’s going to be a big shock for the Cuban fighter when they get inside the ring.
Wilder-Ortiz will be televised on Showtime Boxing on March 3. Wilder, 32, is the favorite to win the fight, but a lot of people aren’t counting out the southpaw Ortiz. They see him as having the power; boxing skills and the chin o last long enough in the fight to get to Wilder’s chin to knock him out.
“Ortiz has never faced nobody with my caliber. Ortiz ain’t never faced nobody with the intensity, with the mindset that I have or with the natural killer instinct that I have,” Wilder said.
It’s true that Ortiz, 38, hasn’t fought anyone at Wilder’s level before. The best fighters that Ortiz has faced as a pro are Tony Thompson, Bryant Jennings, David Allen, Malik Scott, Lateef Kayode and Monte Barrett. Ortiz hasn’t had a serious fight for a while. He was out of the ring for a year after his win over David Allen in December 2016. Ortiz came back last December against journeyman Daniel Martz and stopped him in the 2nd round. Ortiz’s weight looked fine at 242 pounds, but he was slow and not the fighter he’d been a few years back when he fought Jennings and stopped him in the 7th round.
“All that [expletive] goes out the window when you get in the ring with a real one. I don’t care about all that. That ain’t nothing,” Wilder said in talking about Ortiz’s experience as an amateur in Cuba.
The 6’7” Wilder isn’t impressed with the experience that Ortiz comes into the fight with. Wilder thinks that when he connects with a big shot on the chin of Ortiz, all that experience will go out the window. Wilder believes his punching power will override the experience factor in this fight. Wilder has looked at Ortiz’s past fights, and he seen his game and he has no worries at all about whether he can beat him or not.
Wilder has defended his WBC title 6 times since winning it in 2015, and he plans on being successful in his 7th defense against Ortiz. Wilder needs this win badly to keep in the hunt for a unification fight with IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. That’s where the money is at for Deontay. He can’t get beat before that fight or else he’ll lose out on the fight with Joshua. The fight will still likely happen even if Wilder loses to Ortiz, but it would take him to rebuild and the purse wouldn’t be nearly as big when he does eventually get the fight.
“There is nothing that man’s going to do to touch me where he’s going to hurt me,” Wilder said.
Ortiz, 6’4”, has the height and reach to get to Wilder. If Wilder misses one of his right hands, Ortiz is quite capable of hitting him with a left hand counter. That’s his best weapon by far. Ortiz doesn’t have much of a right hand. He mostly slaps with his right hand. Ortiz has a good uppercut that he likes to land when he’s in close. He hurt Jennings with it in their fight in 2015, but that was a younger Ortiz. He’s aged quite a bit since the Jennings fight. It’s only been a little over 2 years since that fight, but Ortiz has still aged.
”I’m going to walk through all that. I’m telling you. That’s nothing. I’ve seen his style many, many, many times. I’ve fought it coming up in the amateurs. I’ve got a lot of Cuban friends. I know their style. Trust me. And I can’t wait,” Wilder.
It would be good for Wilder not to get hit by Ortiz at all period. That would be the best thing for him. If Wilder can spring on Ortiz like a big cat in the 1st round, he might be able to get him out quickly like he did with Bermane Stiverne last November. Wilder stopped Stiverne in the 1st round. He never gave Stiverne a chance to get into the fight. If Wilder can hit Ortiz with some big right hands in the 1st round, he could end it. But Wilder is going to have to be relaxed like he was in the Stiverne fight.
If Wilder is nervous, he might not get him out of there. Wilder looked like he was afraid to throw punches in his fight with Gerald Washington last year in February. Washington was doing well against Wilder through the first 4 rounds. The fight was even on 2 of the judges’ scorecards at 38-38 and 38-38. In the 5th, Wilder knocked Washington down and stopped him. It was that quick. If Wilder had fought like that in the 1st round, he would have stopped Washington right away and prevented him dragging the fight out.
Ortiz is going to be looking to nail Wilder with his left-hand shots. Ortiz is a southpaw, and Wilder hasn’t been fighting too many of those guys during his career. Ortiz might get lucky if he can land one of his big left hands. Ortiz has enough power in his left hand that he could hurt Wilder with it.