By Dan Ambrose: Interim WBA heavyweight champion Luis Ortiz (23-0, 20 KOs) weighed in at a slightly heavy 239 pounds for his title defense on Saturday night against challenger Bryant Jennings (19-1, 10 KOs) for their scheduled 12 round fight on HBO After Dark from the Turning Stone Resort & Casino, in Verona, New York.
Jennings weighted in at 229.5lbs, a weight that is normal for him. The 6’4” Ortiz weighed 237lbs for his last fight against Matias Ariel Vidondo last October, and was able to fight effectively in that fight.
Ortiz vs. Jennings start time: 10:15 p.m. ET/PT.
Where to see it: HBO Boxing After Dark.
When is fight? Saturday, December 19th
This should be a good fight. Golden Boy Promotions are very high on the 36-year-old Ortiz, and they see him as a future world champion. However, Ortiz showed major stamina problems as an amateur in Cuba, and that was one of the reasons for many of his defeats while fighting in the amateur circuit.
Ortiz isn’t the slender fighter he was in the amateurs unfortunately for him, and it’s likely that his stamina has gotten worse since then. The key to beat Ortiz is to attack him constantly by coming straight at him, and not letting him fight on the outside at a slow pace. Ortiz likes to set up big shots from the outside, but he falls apart when he’s under constant attack. If Jennings has watched Ortiz’s past fights during his amateur days, then he knows full well how to beat him. He’s got to keep Ortiz under constant attack and make him fight on the inside, where he has no skills at all. Ortiz gets tired almost immediately when he’s forced to fight hard.
Ortiz has looked good in the recent past in beating guys like Lateef Kayode, Byron Polley, Matias Ariel Vidondo and Monte Barrett. But he’s not faced anyone good yet, and it’s going to be a difficult transition for him tonight to go from the weak fighters that he’s been fed to a guy in Jennings’ class. Jennings isn’t a world beater, but he’s got a good engine and won’t run out of gas after a few rounds. He also had a good chin, and will likely be able to hold up to the hard shots in the early rounds by the southpaw Ortiz.
Jennings looked timid in his fight against Cuba’s Mike Perez in the first six rounds of their fight last year in July 2014. It was lucky for Jennings that Perez ran out of gas after six rounds because it would have been a loss for Jennings. As it was, Jennings won the fight by a 12 round split decision.
The winner of the Jennings vs. Ortiz fight will be in a good position for a world title fight against WBA champion Ruslan Chagaev. That’s a winnable fight for both guys, because Chagaev is up there in age at 36, and very beatable at this point in his career.
Also on the Ortiz-Jennings card is former WBA featherweight champion Nicholas Walters facing Jason Sosa in a scheduled 10 round fight at super featherweight. Walters recently lost his WBA featherweight title when he failed to make weight in a fight where he rehydrated to 145. Walters weighed in at 129.5lbs on Friday. His opponent Sosa weighed in at 130lbs.
Comments are closed.