By Eric Baldwin: Malik Scott (38-2-1, 13 KOs) comes into this Saturday’s contest against unbeaten #1 WBA heavyweight contender Luis “King Kong” Ortiz (25-0, 22 KOs) as the heavy underdog for their 12 round fight at the Salle des Etoiles in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
The 36-year-old Scott doesn’t care that he’s the underdog, as he feels he’s ready to pull off a big upset over the Cuban Ortiz when they get inside the ring on Saturday night. Scott and Ortiz will fight for the vacant WBA Inter-Continental heavyweight title.
Malik hasn’t done much to rate a fight against the 6’4” Ortiz. Malik has lost two out of his last five fights since 2013. His losses came against Deontay Wilder and Dereck Chisora.
Malik’s wins came against Grover Young, Alex Leapai and Tony Thompson. He’s won his last two fights against former heavyweight world title challengers Leapai and Thompson. However, those are older fighters that are no longer relevant in the division. Malik hasn’t beaten any of the top fighters in the division. He did come close to beating Vyacheslav Glazkov in 2013, but their fight was scored a 10 round draw. Many boxing fans believe Malik did more than enough to win the fight.
“I went to Australia and beat Leapai, I came home to beat Thompson who had just beat Odlanier Solis, another guy that had been hyped,” said Scott to Fight News. “People said that Thompson would beat me, I gave him a clinic. Ortiz is dangerous, but a punch at Heavyweight can change everything. He doesn’t know what it’s like to sit on the shelf and wait for a fight, get messed around by opponents. I am just as hungry as he is.”
It’s not a big deal that Malik was able to beat Leapai and Thompson, because those guys are not major players in the heavyweight division at this point. If Malik had beaten the likes of Kubrat Pulev, David Haye or Joseph Parker, then it would be something to pay attention to. But beating the 37-year-old Leapai and 45-year-old Thompson isn’t a big deal. It would have been a big deal if Malik lost to those guys.
Ortiz, 37, needs a win over Malik to stay in the hunt for a world title shot against one of the champions. Ortiz had a chance to put himself in position for a title fight if he’d accepted a fight against Alexander Ustinov. Instead, he didn’t take the fight, and wound up losing his interim WBA heavyweight title in the process.
Recently, news was revealed that Ortiz had signed with Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn, which means we could see a future fight between him and IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, who is also signed to Hearn. The fight against Joshua might not be taking place until 2017 or 2018.
“Is he the most feared? Anyone will fight him but for the right amount of money” said Malik about Ortiz. “He’s a 6ft 4in Cuban southpaw – he’s got a hell of a pedigree, he can fight and he’s dangerous – but that makes me want to fight him. I gravitate to risks like this, because the rewards out there are huge.”
Malik won’t take a lot of heat from the boxing world if he loses to Ortiz, because he’s rated so highly. However, it would be one more loss on Malik’s 16-year-old pro career, and it’s going to make it that much tougher for him to come back from all of these defeats to try and get back into the top 15.
Also on this Saturday’s Ortiz-Malik card are the following fights:
Martin Murray vs. Dmitri Chudinov
Jason Sosa vs. Stephen Smith
Jamie McDonnell vs. Liborio Solia