By Stanley White: Now that the World Boxing Council has given Luis Ortiz (27-0, 23 KOs) the right to continue fighting with their sanctioning body, he’s already targeted a fight against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder.
The WBC let Ortiz off easy in fining him $25K for his positive drug test.
The southpaw Ortiz is ranked No.3 by the World Boxing Council. He’s ranked high, and he’s a tempting option for Wilder to take for his next fight.
Ortiz, 38, was scheduled to fight Wilder on November 4 on Showtime, but he tested positive during a VADA administered test for 2 diuretics. The drugs are used for high blood pressure, but they also can be used as making agents.
“Luis is thrilled,” Ortiz’s trainer Herman Caicedo said to Michael Woods at Badlefthook.com, “and we’re tentatively on next Friday’s December 8 card in Miami. Opponent to be determined and we’re going to move quick on it! Wilder, we don’t want no one else. Anthony Joshua’s a [expletive] hiding behind the WBA!”
I don’t know if Wilder and his management team are going to want to take a chance at scheduling a fight with Ortiz after all that happened with their November 4 fight. It would take a lot of faith on Wilder and his management’s part to agree to another fight with Ortiz. I don’t know if they’re going to be willing to take that kind of risk for his next fight. Wilder needs a good warm-up fight.
Ortiz needs to get back into the ring, because he’s lost a year of his career. The last time he fought was in December of 2016 in beating British domestic level heavyweight Dave Allen by an 8th round knockout. That was not a good performance by Ortiz, who didn’t live up to expectations that some in the boxing world had for him in that fight. At 38, Ortiz needs to get busy with his career if he wants to take advantage of the remaining time that he has.
The WBC has given Ortiz a second chance. It’s up to him to make the most of it. Instead of calling out Wilder, Ortiz should get his management to pick the highest ranked contender they can find for him to get a good win under his belt. It’s safe to say that Dillian Whyte won’t agree to a fight with Ortiz. That would be a good fight if it could get made, but it’s unlikely that Whyte or more importantly his promoter Eddie Hearn would want to setup a fight with Ortiz.