By Gerardo Granados: WBC belt holder Deontay ‘The Bronze Bomber’ Wilder will rematch veteran contender Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz tonight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, in a fight that is a must-see for serious boxing fans.
Yes, if you are not a real fight fan and you are just a circus fight lover, then you should just stay away from watching the rematch between Wilder (41-0-1, 40 KOs) and Ortiz (31-1, 26 KOs) on Fox Sports PBC Pay-Per-View.
First Wilder vs. Ortiz fight had controversy
As the reader already knows the first fight ended by knockout in the tenth round when Wilder finally was able to land a clean counter right hand and Ortiz wasn’t able to fully recuperate or at least wasn’t lucky enough to be allowed by the ringside doctor to get extra time to do so.
At the end of the seventh round, Ortiz hurt Wilder with a clean right hand, and kept pounding him until the bell rang. But then something suspicious happened, as the referee gave Deontay extra time to recuperate after the bell rang for the start of the next round. The ringside doctor wanted to give Wilder a quick look over before letting him come out for the start of the 8th round.
In the end, Wilder was able to land clean and then to finish off Luis in the 10th round, but there is no doubt in my mind that without those extra seconds, that the Bronze Bomber would have lost that night.
It has been twenty months since the first Wilder-Ortiz fight, and now Wilder is 34 years old and Ortiz 40 years old. Maybe for other pro sports age is just a number, but for pro boxing, one full year can make a huge difference in performance. Not only because Cronos never forgives clean boxers, but also because at times a boxer can also dramatically improve in such a short period.
Wilder is at his peak now
I believe that Wilder is at his peak and now, and he has perfected his hunter skills. Deontay isn’t just a stalker; he has become a really good good boxer as well. He has taken his physical attributes to the next level, and now he has developed the experience as well as his ring smarts – IQ to play for him for the best, as we all saw in his fight against against Tyson Fury last December. I want to make clear that in my book that I scored that fight for Fury.
Maybe the ringside doctor did his job right the last time around. Perhaps it was a silly mistake to give so much time to the WBC belt holder Wilder to recuperate after he’d been hurt in the 7th round against Ortiz last year, but for sure it did influence the outcome of that fight.
Can Ortiz pull off the upset?
A friend of mine thinks that Luis can win the fight. I told him that my heart tells me that he can do it, but also that my mind doesn’t agree, but not just because of the referee. No, it would be naïve for me to bet the house on the underdog, but also because it is more probable that this time around Wilder might not need any extra help.
Hey, for sure, I ́ve been wrong before, but if the reader wants to bet, I would advise not to bet on the underdog because as good as Ortiz is, he won’t be able to fight a perfect defensive fight to avoid Wilder ́s big right or left hand.
I won’t be scoring this bout, as I am bias and cheering for Ortiz to win. So I will be pendent on the scoring of the so-called boxing pundits, but not those who belong to the major boxing media puppets. Most importantly, I will pay attention to how the real boxing fans score this one.
Wilder vs. Ortiz = REAL fight
The best thing about this fight between Wilder and Ortiz is that it is a real fight, and not a circus match between two impostor boxers. I truly believe that this fight won’t be postponed until an average MMA fight ends before it can be aired.
Hey, no disrespect meant to the MMA fight fans, but pro boxing is still the king in combat sports, no matter what happened a couple of weeks ago when the supposed cash cow boxing Saul Canelo Alvarez had to wait until a UFC event ended so financial interests wouldn’t be affected.
I’m ready for a really good fight tonight and I bet that the ready is also ready. But, as usual, well it’s been a long time, but nonetheless, as usual, I want to ask the reader, will the referee be a factor in the Wilder versus Ortiz rematch?