By Jeff Aranow: Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz (28-1, 24 KOs) came within an eyelash of knocking out WBC heavyweight champion Deontay ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder in the 7th round of their fight last Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Ortiz hurt Wilder with a left-hand counter in the 7th round after he loaded up with a right hand. Ortiz then hit Wilder with everything he had. Wilder spent part of the time holding on and the other part taking shots with his back against the ropes.
It looked like Wilder was very close to being stopped on a couple of occasions in the decisive moments of the round. If Ortiz wasn’t so tired near the end of the round, he would have knocked Wilder out for sure. Ortiz, 38, was very close to getting the stoppage.
“It was a great fight and I performed well,” Ortiz said. “I thought I was up on the scorecard going into the tenth round, but it’s heavyweight boxing and you never know what’s going to happen.”
It wasn’t a great fight as Ortiz sates. Wilder fought like he was afraid most of the time, and even when he did go on the offense, he was wild and not as powerful as he’d been in the past.
Ortiz was too slow, and his fatigue issues ended up preventing him from winning the fight. When Ortiz had Wilder on the ropes and badly hurt in the 7th round, it was his stamina issues that prevented him from winning the fight. Wilder was ahead by a 1 point on the scorecards going into the 10th round, but it didn’t matter. The fight wasn’t going to go the full 12 rounds anyway.
“I almost had him and I think I would’ve if there were a few more seconds in the round,” Ortiz said after the fight.
Ortiz almost had Wilder in the 7th. If Ortiz had a little more time left in the round, he would have won the fight. Moreover, if Ortiz had been 4 years younger, he probably would have obliterated Wilder. Back in 2014 when Ortiz still had a lot left of his physical skill-set, he would have been too much for Wilder. Unfortunately for Ortiz, he wasn’t 4 years younger and he didn’t have the extra time he needed in the 7th round for him to score the knockout. He couldn’t pull out the KO, and Wilder ended up coming back to hurt him in the 9th and then put him away in the 10th. That’s the reality of the situation. The good news for Ortiz is he accounted himself well enough to potentially get a title shot against the likes of IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in the future. If Joshua runs out of opponents in the next 2 years, he might look Ortiz’s way if he’s about to keeps his career going that long. That’s a big if though, as he looked very old last night.
Ortiz fought well enough to win the first 4 rounds of the fight. Wilder hurt Ortiz in the 5th round with a right hand and then he dropped him. Wilder barely edged the action in the 6th round with a few right hands that he landed. Ortiz turned things around in the 7th and 8th round to get the better of Wilder.
Ortiz initially fought well in round 9, but Wilder came back and hurt him with a right hand late in the round that caused him to stumble. It was a big enough shot from Wilder that it knocked Ortiz off balance. Wilder connected with 2 more hard shots as the 9th round ended that gave him some confidence going into the 10th. The 9th round woke Wilder up and brought him back into the fight. Before the 9th, Wilder looked like he was mentally beaten and, on his way, to losing the fight.
In round 10, Wilder and Ortiz connected with big shots that knocked them both off balance. Wilder immediately went on the attack, but he was tied up briefly by the stunned Ortiz. While in the clinch, Wilder hit Ortiz with 2 rabbit punches and then flung him into the ropes where he fell. It wasn’t scored a knockdown, but Ortiz stayed down for several seconds as if it were a knockout. Ortiz might have been confused and thinking that he’d been knocked. It was obviously a mistake on Ortiz’s part to stay down for several seconds. When the action resumed, Wilder hit Ortiz with a right to the head with several shots that didn’t have a lot of power on them. However, Wilder connected with a windmill left hand that knocked Ortiz off balance in hitting him on the side of the head. Wilder threw left-right to the head of Ortiz followed by a straight right that caused him to wobble.
Wilder then landed a nice left hook to the head of Ortiz that sent him down. While Ortiz was falling down, Wilder hit him with a right hand that just grazed his head. Ortiz looked hurt on the canvas. He was on his hands and knees and looking into the audience. Ortiz somehow made it up at the count of 9, but he looked disoriented as the referee David Fields motioned for him to walk towards him. Wilder then threw a right hand that landed on the side of Ortiz’s head that knocked him off balance.
It was more of a cuffing shot than one that had any real power on it. Ortiz then lost his footing after he missed with a left hand. While Ortiz was still off balance, Wilder hit him with a right hand that sent him down on the canvas. It wasn’t a big punch, but Ortiz was so hurt that it didn’t matter. The referee David Fields quickly waived off the fight at that point even though Ortiz hadn’t been hit with any meaningful punches from Wilder. It was more of a case of Ortiz stumbling and falling after getting hit with a weak shot.
This was not the type of performance from Wilder that would suggest that he can beat the likes of Anthony Joshua or any of the other good heavyweights in the division. The way Wilder looked, he might not keep his WBC title for too much longer.