By Jim Dower: Undefeated #3 WBC heavyweight contender Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz (27-0, 23 KOs) will be back inside the ring for the first time in 12 months this Friday night when he faces the capable 27-year-old Daniel Martz (16-5-1, 13 KOs) in a 10 round scheduled fight on the undercard of the light heavyweight clash between prospect Ahmed Elbiali fighting Jean Pascal at the Hialeah Park in Miami, Florida. The TV portion of the card will start at 9:00 p.m. ET.
Ortiz vs. Martz takes the place of the Chad Dawson vs. Edwin Rodriguez fight. Dawson was injured and he won’t be able to take the fight with Rodriguez.
The Elbiali-Pascal and Ortiz-Martz fights will be televised on Premier Boxing Champions on FS1 and Fox Deportes this Friday, December 8.
Ortiz, 38, was given clearance a week ago by the World Boxing Council to begin fighting after he had tested positive for 2 banned substances during a VADA administered drug test. Ortiz had been scheduled to fight WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder on November 4 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Ortiz was given a $25K fine, but he was then given the green light to continue fighting. His ranking is back up at No.3, and he’s in the position to fight for a world title if Wilder wants to schedule a fight with him again. Wilder hasn’t given any hints that he’ll do that. In that case, Ortiz will need to work his way to a No.1 mandatory position with the WBC before he gets a title shot against Wilder.
Ortiz’s management isn’t waiting around to schedule him a fight. They moved quickly in getting him a fight against Martz. The goal for Ortiz’s team is to get him a crack at a world title in 2018. I think that’s pretty farfetched unless Wilder decides to give Ortiz another shot in a voluntary defense. It’s going to take more than 1 year for Ortiz to make it to a mandatory status against Wilder.
”I can’t wait to get some action and feel that ring and those gloves tight on my wrist,” Ortiz said. “I’d like to thank everyone, especially my loyal fans,” said Ortiz.
The Cuban Ortiz has looked good recently in beating David Allen, Malik Scott, Tony Thompson and Bryant Jennings. Ortiz didn’t look quite as good in his last 2 fights against Allen and Scott than he had in beating Thompson and Jennings. Whether that’s a training issue or age is unclear. Ortiz has looked slow in his last couple of fights, and not as explosive as he was in the past. For Ortiz’s sake, hopefully it’s not a case of him getting old all of a sudden. Ortiz needs to take advantage of this second chance that he’s being given by the WBC so that he can try and work himself in position for a world title shot.