By Jeff Aranow: Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz (28-0, 24 KOs) is talking about skinning WBC heavyweight champion Deontay ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder (39-0, 38 KOs) in their fight on March 3 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Ortiz wants to become world champion in the worst way, and he’s training very hard to get in the best shape he’s been in a long time. Wilder vs. Ortiz will be televised on the 3rd of March on Showtime Boxing in the U.S.
Ortiz like he wants to turn his fight with Wilder into a war on March 3. Wilder didn’t have to take this fight with Ortiz. Deontay Wilder could have played it safe and made another voluntary defense while he waits for the outcome of the Anthony Joshua vs. Joseph Parker fight to play out. If Wilders loses to Ortiz, he’s going to miss out on a big payday against Joshua. It’s a gamble that Wilder is taking by facing Joshua, and he might be sorry for it if he gets beaten. Joshua’s fight against Parker isn’t nearly as risky for him.
The question is can a fighter as old as the 38-year-old Ortiz defeat a prime guy like the 32-year-old Wilder? It’s going to be hard for Ortiz to win this fight unless he’s able to get back some youth. Right now, Ortiz is looking too old and too ring rusty to do the job on Wilder. At Ortiz’s age, he’s going to need to land that one big shot and hope that he can drop Wilder or stun him enough to where he’s helpless to defend himself. The 6’7” Wilder hasn’t been hurt seriously during his 10-year pro career as yet where he’s had to try and clinch to survive. Ortiz has the kind of power to put Wilder in trouble if he has enough time to land one of his big shots.
Ortiz is getting a second opportunity by Wilder to fight for his WBC heavyweight title. Ortiz blew his last chance against Wilder after he tested positive for 2 drugs. The World Boxing Council reinstated Ortiz in their top 15 rankings, giving him a No.3 spot after he explained the reason for his positive drug test. The drugs that Ortiz was popped for were being used to control his high blood pressure.
“This is going to be a very serious fight, the most serious problem he will have in his life is going to be that, not the time he was caught with a tobacco [marijuana], because he knows I’m going to tear the skin off his body,” said Ortiz to elnuevoherald.com.
Ortiz’s inability to knockout Malik Scott in their fight 14 months ago isn’t a good indication that he’s going to be able to KO Wilder. Ortiz was dragged the entire 12 round distance against Scott in their fight on November 12, 2016. Ortiz won the fight by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision, but he couldn’t hurt Scott and he was getting hit a lot in the fight. If Wilder is able to land as often as Malik Scott did on Ortiz, this fight might not last more than a couple of rounds. Even if the fight goes the full 12 rounds, Ortiz will lose badly if Wilder is able to land his big power shots for the entire fight. The judges are going to be more impressed with Wilder’s hard shots than they will be for Ortiz’s weaker punches. Ortiz is going to need to try and KO wilder if he wants the win.
Ortiz’s 7th round knockout win over Bryant Jennings in December 2015 was one of the best victories of his 8-year pro career. Ortiz showed a lot of variation in his game in that fight. At times, he fought like Larry Holmes, Muhammad Ali and Lennox Lewis. But, Ortiz also had problems with Jennings’ work rate, youth, speed and combination punching. That fight was far from an easy win for Ortiz despite the ending working out in his favor. Unfortunately for Ortiz, he hasn’t been nearly as sensational in his 4 fights since then against Tony Thompson, Malik Scott, David Allen and Daniel Martz. He’s not been able to get back the form that he showed against Jennings. If Ortiz looked bad in those fights due to training issues, then it makes you wonder whether he lacks the dedication to fight at the highest level of the heavyweight division. Ortiz is too old to take it easy in preparation for his fights. If Ortiz hasn’t been training hard for his fights since the Jennings match, then he might not be able to get back to the level he needs to be for him to avoid being destroyed by Wilder.
“I only know that I’m going to fulfill my dream, and this time I’m going to do it twice, my workouts are doubled, my diet is doubled and my mind is focused on double, there’s no way I can lose,” said Ortiz.
It’ll be a big coup for Ortiz if he beats Wilder. Ortiz will get a nice payday in the rematch, and then he could potentially fight the winner of the Anthony Joshua vs. Joseph Parker fight in a unification fight in 2018. It would be a late career boon for Ortiz, who has done nothing up to this point in the pro ranks.
Ortiz is coming into the Wilder fight with a lot of questions about his ability to cut it at the highest levels of the division. Ortiz has yet to face one of the top heavyweights. His past wins over Jennings, Scott and Thompson were against vulnerable heavyweights that don’t possess a huge amount of talent. Ortiz hasn’t tangled with the cream of the heavyweight division like Wilder, Joseph Parker, Alexander Povetkin, Joshua, Jarrell Miller, Kubrat Pulev, Dominic Breazeale, and Carlos Takam. That doesn’t mean that Ortiz couldn’t beat those guys, but the fact that he hasn’t faced any of them leaves a lot of questions of whether he’s got the youth and speed to deal with a prime Deontay Wilder.
Ortiz’s age is still an unknown. A lot of boxing fans think Ortiz is between 45 and 50-years-old. Some fans don’t believe Ortiz is 38. If Ortiz is that old, he’s probably not going to be able to hang around against Wilder for long. Ortiz could be getting by on just ring IQ at this point in his career. I don’t think matters what Ortiz’s age is. The fact that he’s looking very slow and old is going to be a big problem for him when he gets inside the ring with Wilder.