Wilder vs. Ortiz
[BoxingGlove Notes]
The long awaited heavyweight championship fight between Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder, 39-0, 38 knockouts and also current W.B.C Heavyweight Champion vs. Luis “The Real King Kong” Ortiz, 28-0-2 N.C., 24 k.o.’s is finally signed, sealed with a delivery date for Saturday, March 3rd, 2018, at the Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York.
There had been much speculation about whether this fight would ever take place after many postponements due to the fact that Ortiz had tested positive for banned substances after two previous attempts to contract the fight.
Despite the fact that Ortiz denied taking illegal drugs –he claimed taking prescribed medication due to medical conditions such as high blood pressure– he was investigated, suspended, and labeled a “cheater” by many especially, a very angry Deontay Wilder, who said, “I will punish the cheater,.”
Ortiz said: “Why would I jeopardize my opportunity to become the first Cuban in boxing history to win a World Heavyweight Championship. Nino Valdes came close many years ago but failed. I will not fail.”
Ortiz further stated, “Let Wilder talk and insult me all he wants to but he is in for a rude awakening come Saturday, March 3rd. I am not anywhere near one of those 39 opponents he easily defeated. I also let my fist talk for me.”
Wilder’s response was: “I intend to knockout Ortiz the cheater and punish him for insulting this sport. I dream every night of this fight and the result is always the same ‘I knockout’ Ortiz. The only problem I have is not being able to determine in which round I will score the knockout in those 12 rounds. It could be early or a later round, but I will knockout Ortiz, and that is a promise.”
Not only is there a noticeable deep-rooted animosity between Wilder and Ortiz, but there is a combined super confidence by each that they both will be victorious. Somebodies “0” will go.
Could this expected phone booth middle of the ring war between two ring giants result in a draw? Let’s hope the assigned ring judges are watching this mega-fight very closely to avoid controversy.
Let’s analyze.
Deontay Wilder, a 6’7” tall former top football, basketball, and track & field star is a hard-hitting right handed power hitter who has a 97.4 % knockout ratio with 19 first round knockouts to his credit, and an arm length of 83”. Wilder who started boxing at age 19, with an amateur boxing record of only 30-5 is an Olympian Bronze Medalist. He made his pro debut at 23 years of age and is rated as the best heavyweight in the world today.
On the other side of the Barclays Center ring combat zone we have an opponent practically similar to Wilder. He is Luis Ortiz, who is 6’4” tall and has an 84” reach. He is 38 years old, and was born in Camaguey, Cuba, home of the great Welterweight Champion, Geraldo “Kid Gavilan” Gonzalez.
Ortiz is also a powerful puncher but from the Southpaw side. He has an amateur record of 343-19 including winning many International titles. Ortiz is determined to also knockout Wilder not only for the insults and what he says are false accusations, but to also make history, and then challenge the winner of the Anthony Joshua vs. Joseph Parker, W.B.A., W.B.O., I.B.F. & I.B.O. Heavyweight Championship fight, on March 31.
The winner of that fight would then claim all of the existing five heavyweight belts.
“I am a gym rat that has always worked very hard, clean and honestly to be successful in my boxing career from the amateurs to the pros, and I never cheated anyone,” Ortiz emphatically stated.
Ortiz further said, “I am not going to the Barclays Center to fight Wilder to just pick-up a paycheck. My hand will be raised up in victory, decision or knockout and that is a fact.”
Although the betting or fan favorite is Deontay Wilder, perhaps in the final analysis many have overlooked the fact that Wilder is emotionally tightly-winded. I believe he’s thinking only of knockouts; not of the possibility of going the distance in a very punishing and painful fight.
This knockout’quest could tax his stamina since Ortiz is a punishing body puncher, very defensive, with a point-scoring strong right jab which could cause knockout-hunting Wilder problems as the fight progresses.
Luis Ortiz is a methodical fighter, planning every move, pinpointing all of his punches while Deontay too often “windmills” his punches, looking for the knockout by any means possible. He forgets to punish the body, he forgets his defense, and that is dangerous with a counter-puncher like Ortiz.
Unless Ortiz is a remake of Bermaine Stiverne who never recovered from Deontay Wilder’s hard right hand punch to the forehead in the first round of their championship fight, also at the Barclays Center on November 4th, Wilder is in for a fistic surprise.
He could still be victorious after absorbing much pain.
This Black Star News sports writer concludes this is a pic-em fight of gladiators.
When the first meaningful punch is landed by either fighter we will then realize who the eventual winner might be.
I see Ortiz winning a hard-fought decision. I’m not ruling out a late 10th round knockout victory.
