Wilder’s rematch with Ortiz to be announced this month

Image: Wilder's rematch with Ortiz to be announced this month
By Boxing News - 09/09/2019 - Comments

By Allan Fox: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder’s next fight will be announced later this month for his rematch with Luis Ortiz, according to his co-manager Shelly Finkel. This will be the unbeaten Wilder’s 10th defense of his World Boxing Council title he won four years ago in beating Bermane Stiverne by a 12 round decision. The date for the Wilder-Ortiz 2 rematch is being talked about taking place on November 23.

Deontay Wilder giving Luis Ortiz a second chance

Wilder (41-0-1, 40 KOs) already beat the 40-year-old Ortiz by a 10th round knockout last year in March 2018 in Brooklyn, New York. The fight was competitive with Wilder getting hurt in the 7th before coming back to stop the southpaw Ortiz in the 10th. Wilder will now be looking to beat the talented Cuban one more time before he meets up with lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in a rematch on February 22 next year in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Recently, former unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has expressed skepticism  about whether Wilder will be fighting Ortiz in a rematch. Hearn believes that Wilder is mostly interested in name-dropping Joshua’s name to get free publicity from the boxing world. Finkel says Hearn needs to worry about Joshua’s career instead of Wilder’s.

YouTube video

Finkel says Wilder’s rematch with Ortiz to be announced this month

“Deontay’s fight against Luis Ortiz will be officially announced later this month, as has always been planned,” said Finkel to Sky Sports News. “After reading Eddie’s quotes today I think he shouldn’t be worrying about Deontay and should put all his energy into resurrecting Joshua, because that is what is really needed. Deontay’s fight against Luis Ortiz will be officially announced later this month, as has always been planned.”

Hearn has criticized Wilder recently about announcing his rematch with Ortiz four months ago on May 28, but then failing to give a date for when that fight would take place. What’s unclear is why it’s taken Wilder so long to get the rematch with Ortiz s set. Wilder last fought on May 18th in defeating his mandatory Dominic Breazeale by a 1st round knockout. Deontay hasn’t fought since, and there’s still no opponent scheduled for his next fight.

Here’s the Tweet by Wilder from May 28th talking about his rematch with Ortiz:

Hearn: Wilder is just using Joshua’s name

“What a surprise on the global tour of Joshua vs Ruiz, Deontay Wilder is coming out talking about Anthony Joshua,” said Hearn to talksport.com. “Before the Ruiz fight, at the end of May, Deontay Wilder comes out and says, ‘I’m announcing my next fight, it’s Luis Ortiz.’ We’re now in September, he still hasn’t announced that date, he still hasn’t announced that venue. So this is him, again, just using Joshua’s name.”

We’ll see if Finkel is serious about the Wilder-Ortiz rematch being announced later this month. If it doesn’t, then it’s possible will stay out of the ring until his rematch with Fury next February. Fury (28-0-1, 20 KOs) is defending his lineal title this Saturday night against Otto Wallin (20-0, 13 KOs) at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.