By Dean Berman: Deontay Wilder showed a flash of anger during Tuesday’s international media conference call when told that his opponent Luis Ortiz claimed that he used illegal and borderline criminal tactics in their fight last year. Wilder said he didn’t do anything illegal.
He said that if he gets mad at the 40-year-old Ortiz (31-1, 26 KOs), he may try and hurt him inside the ring.
Wilder (41-0-1, 40 KOs) will be defending his WBC heavyweight title against Ortiz on November 23 on Fox Sports pay-per-view at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Wilder stopped Ortiz in the 10th round in their fight in March 2018. Although Wilder didn’t need to, he chose to give Ortiz a rematch.
Wilder responds to accusations from Ortiz of criminal tactics
“The only thing that’s criminal is me hitting people with the right hand and almost killing them,” said Wilder. “That’s the only thing I can go with. I don’t know what can be criminalized as far as in the ring unless I’m actually trying to kill a man. That’s the only thing I can see. That’s something someone needs to ask him to clarify what he meant by that. I would like to know myself to be honest. If that’s something to tear me down, then I would feel something towards Ortiz even more.
“I would feel a negative vibe towards him if he tried to tear me down after I blessed him twice. I would like to know what he meant by that, because that could definitely be a heat factor to raise my blood if I was taking blood pressure medication, and make me want to hurt him even more than I do now.
“So he needs to clarify that for me before I take it in the wrong way, and we know when I get mad, it’s over with. Right now I’m neutral with him. I’m very respectful. He should thank God that I blessed him [gave him a second without needing to] a second time when I didn’t have to before I take this the wrong way, and really want to beat his a–.” said Wilder about Ortiz.
It’s unclear why Ortiz is suddenly bringing all this up now. He could have spoken about all this stuff after his loss last year to Wilder instead of now.
Deontay reveals that he had the flu for Ortiz fight last year
“The seventh round was an amazing time for me. It allowed me to see what I’m made of,” said Wilder during Tuesday’s international media conference call in talking about how fight with Ortiz. “It allowed the world to see what kind of true champion they have in America. The seventh round being under the conditions I was under, I was very proud of myself to be able to handle those situations, and go into the fire like that.
“For one, going into a fight like that with a flu. Proper protocol is to cancel that, and wait until a later date until you’re healthy. Being me, I’m hard-headed. I always do things that many boxers don’t do. That’s me wanting my legacy to be different from the rest. I don’t want the, ‘Oh, he’s got nice skills.’ I want to be different. ‘Oh, he talks like this.’ I want to be different. That’s why I do the things I do.
“I’m always encouraged. I didn’t get discouraged because I knocked him down and he came back,” said Wilder about Ortiz in their first fight. “The bell saved him in the 5th round. I wouldn’t say so [that Wilder was in the same situation in 7th after getting hurt], because he still had 40 seconds. How many seconds did I have in the 5th round to finish him off. He had 40 seconds, and he couldn’t do it,” said Wilder.
Wilder didn’t looked like he was badly sick during the fight. when a person has the flu, they’re shaking, and and in bad shape. He didn’t look like that. It’s likely that Wilder was recovering from the flu rather than being in the worst of it.
Ortiz couldn’t beat a sick Wilder
“He threw EVERYTHING, and me being sick,” said Wilder. “I kept telling you that I had the flu. If anyone knows about the flu, it makes you weak mentally, physically and emotionally. He couldn’t get me out, and he threw everything. I remember getting buzzed. How it first happened was we threw a punch together, and he landed before me. That’s what buzzed me the first time, but I wasn’t [hurt].
“I was slightly buzzed the first time, but then I tried to bluff it. But when I bluffed it, I wasn’t separating myself from him. I didn’t have enough distance apart from each. So I tried to throw. I was pawing my jab just to let him know that I’m still here and to bluff him that I’m still slightly buzzed from that impact that had happened. He caught on that being that he’s an experienced fighter from my body language, and he caught on that I was buzzed.
“That’s when he came back with a right hand, and that’s when I was buzzed [in a major way]. I was never hurt. People use hurt too much, and throw that around too much, because they don’t understand the difference between buzz and hurt. I advise anyone in boxing to experience what we go through. Go in the ring and get hit, and experience what it feels like to get hit and get buzzed or even get knocked out,” said Wilder.
Ortiz came razor close to stopping Wilder in the 7th. The referee looked like he was ready to waive it off, and it didn’t matter that he wasn’t down. It’s admirable that Wilder fought with the flu, but he looked shaky in the 7th and 8th rounds.
Ortiz knew Wilder was hurt in the 7th
“I understood everything that was going on with me, and I was coaching myself internally,” said Wilder. “My innner voice was telling me to keep going, and make sure the referee sees you. Make sure you keep hitting him. I didn’t want to make any punch effective, because I didn’t want to waste any energy because I wanted to get this buzz to waste any energy.
“So I hit him anywhere I could no matter where it was so that the referee could understand that I’m very active and I’m aware and can still fight. I don’t think I got enough credit for that from the commentators that were commentating on the fight. They didn’t understand what I was doing, and how I was closing in on him. I didn’t give him enough space to release his punches.
“I stayed close to him, and I didn’t no credit for the intellect that I had in the ring in the 7th round. So everything I knew what I was doing, and when the bell rang in the 7th round, I knew exactly where I was. I went back to my corner, and I was still taking s— going back there too. I never heard of that. So I’m going to think he’s being sarcastic,” said Wilder.
It was a waste of time for Wilder to try and disguise being hurt in the 7th, because Ortiz was going to attack regardless. The fight had gotten to the point where Ortiz HAD to fight hard. He’d been knocked down in the 5th, and he saw the fight was fast slipping away from him.