By Patrick McHugh: A fight between interim WBA heavyweight champion Luis “The Real King Kong” Ortiz (25-0, 22 KOs) and #3 WBA Alexander Ustinov (33-1, 24 KOs) has reportedly been agreed on by the promoters of the two fighters, according to ESPN.
The Ortiz-Ustinov fight will take place in August or September in the United Stated at a site to be determined. The winner of the Ortiz v. Ustinov fight will be in position to fight the winner of the July 9 fight between Wladimir Klitschko and Tyson Fury.
However, there’s also a chance that the Ortiz-Ustinov won’t get the winner of that fight if it’s Fury, because he’s talking about retiring after the contest. The best chance of the Ortiz vs. Ustinov getting the winner of the Fury-Klitschko 2 fight is if Wladimir wins because he hasn’t said anything about wanting to retire from the sport as of yet.
“We have a deal in place with Frank Warren,” said Golden Boy Promotions matchmaker Eric Gomez to ESPN.com. “We have an agreement in principle, but nothing is signed. We are going to contract this week, and we will notify the WBA that we have a deal. The fight will be on HBO, and we’re looking at August or September.”
There had previously been a purse bid scheduled to take place on May 19 for the Ortiz-Ustinov fight, but it will be canceled now that there’s an agreement between the two camps.
The Ortiz vs. Ustinov fight involves two fighters that are getting up there in age in the heavyweight division. Ustinov is 39-years-old, and his career has been slow in developing. Ustinov has been a pro since 2005, but a disappointing 11th round knockout defeat at the hands of Kubrat Pulev in 2012 seems to have slowed Ustinov’s progress. Had he won that fight, He likely would have fought for a world title by now.
Since his loss to Pulev, Ustinov has won his last six fights and looked good in beating largely weak opposition. The 6’7” Ustinov has trimmed down his weight from the 300s to the 280s, and he seems like a much better fighter at this weight. However, Ustinov is still very slow of hand and foot. It’s hard to imagine him being able to beat a fighter as good as Ortiz right now.
For his part, Ortiz is 37 and he clearly doesn’t have too much time to make his mark in the heavyweight division. He might be able to stay at the top for another three years, but it’s hard to imagine him being able to continue to fight at a high level much beyond that. Ortiz has slowed a great deal since the early 2000s, when he was a top amateur in his native Cuba. Ortiz was fast on his foot back then and a much different heavyweight. He’s still quite good at 37, but he clearly isn’t the fighter he was 10 to 15 years ago before he defected.
Ortiz captured the interim WBA heavyweight title back in October of 2015 with a third round stoppage win over Matias Ariel Vidondo. Since then, Ortiz has stopped former world title challenger Bryant Jennings by a 7th round knockout last December in an impressive performance. This is the same Jennings that had gone the 12 round distance against former world champion Wladimir Klitschko in April of last year.