The Official TSS Wilder-Ortiz Prediction Page

We surveyed members of our writing community to get their thoughts on the big heavyweight fight this Saturday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Consistent with the odds, Deontay Wilder was the popular pick, but his Cuban adversary certainly had his supporters. The respondents are listed alphabetically. Comic book cover artist Rob Ayala, whose specialty is combat sports, provided the graphic. Check out more of Ayala’s illustrations at his web site, fight posium.

Wilder makes so many defensive mistakes and mostly due to the level of his opponents, he has yet to pay for those mistakes. Ortiz is a fluid well-schooled boxer with some serious power behind his punches. If Gerald Washington could outbox Wilder the way he did for a few rounds, just imagine what Ortiz can accomplish. I see ORTIZ finding the target early with the jab and following up with some powerful lefts that Wilder won’t be able to take for very long. Ortiz KO 3. – MATT ANDRZEJEWSKI

Wilder by stoppage. Although Luis Ortiz is a southpaw who can hit – and those are two dangerous elements – I foresee WILDER being cautious before unloading and finishing the Cuban heavyweight. – DAVID AVILA

Part of my brain — the one that weighs and assesses logic — keeps telling the emotional part that Luis Ortiz is a very live underdog more than capable of spoiling the Anthony Joshua-Deontay Wilder unification showdown that most fight fans want to see. The emotional part of my brain, which sometimes overrides the logical part, is yielding to wishful thinking and is saying that I should pick WILDER by ninth-round stoppage. Of course, all this over-thinking gets derailed anyway should Joseph Parker do unto Joshua what Ortiz might do unto Wilder. Anyone up for an Ortiz-Parker fight? – BERNARD FERNANDEZ

I’m sorry to say but the PED troubled Ortiz is neither coming to win nor coming to fight. The absolute most the Cuban invader hopes to do is embarrass Wilder with another WTF ending to one of his WBC title defenses. Ortiz will not be giving WILDER the satisfaction of defeating him in a conclusive manner. A very wild Wilder will be all over a mentally irregular Ortiz early. Ortiz will be all over the canvas early. At some point he just stays down there. Was it a punch? Was it a dive? Some combination of both? Who knows? – JEFFREY FREEMAN

Ortiz likes to get in close to do his work and I believe that WILDER will tattoo him as he tries to get in close. Also, Wilder has fairly quick feet so he should be able to move out of range after landing and make the plodding Ortiz reset. It wouldn’t surprise me if the fight goes the distance but I can see Wilder’s power doing incremental damage on Ortiz until his age becomes a factor late in the fight. Wilder TKO 10. – KID HERSH

I don’t think Team Wilder would have taken this fight if it didn’t believe that Ortiz is past his prime. I see this as a cross between Wilder-Stiverne 1 and Wilder-Stiverne 2. WILDER by late stoppage or decision. – THOMAS HAUSER

Ortiz with his amateur background has a chance at managing a 12-round fight, stealing rounds and avoiding the big punch. Gerald Washington managed to bank a few early rounds against Wilder, a blueprint for ORTIZ. I’m not liking the cockiness we are starting to get out of Deontay. Surpassing Ali? Show me dude, don’t tell me. Ortiz UD. – MIGUEL ITURRATE

As an amateur, a skinnier version of Deontay Wilder was knocked out by Evgeny Romanov, a man who was 7 inches shorter. That was a decade ago, but I doubt Wilder has developed a stronger beard in the interim. I lean to the Cuban because the closest distance between two points is a straight line and ORTIZ isn’t the one that loops his punches. Ortiz TKO 5. – ARNE LANG

Call me a cynic but I don’t believe Team Wilder would agree to fight Ortiz with so much money waiting for them in a match with AJ so long as Wilder remains undefeated. I don’t see Deontay Wilder close to being a special heavyweight and I think his management is on the same page. Based on the way he’s been brought along, I think it was for the purpose of securing the home run payday and they are so close to it now. He’s been handled too shrewdly for them to blow it by taking a risk with the wrong fighter at the worst possible time. Therefore I can’t pick against WILDER and expect him to get the “W” against Ortiz, or they wouldn’t be fighting. – FRANK LOTIERZO

I like WILDER to win by knockout. I think Ortiz is a really solid fighter, but I think Wilder is just a very special athlete who is faster and stronger than almost anyone else he comes up against. Ortiz will box well early, but after three or four rounds, Ortiz will tire and Wilder’s explosive punching will detonate on Ortiz’s face. – KELSEY McCARSON

What has Ortiz done since that wonderful display against Bryant Jennings?  The answer, sadly, is “nothing” but this, nevertheless, is the fight where WILDER dusts off his championship credentials, defending against one of the better heavyweights in the world for the first time.  Whatever drug and age related controversies are swirling around the Cuban, a 6’4” southpaw with size and reach who has passed the eye test is a valid opponent by anyone’s measure.  I’ll look for Wilder to get behind that quick jab and, sooner or later, start landing those strange, winging bombs of his and get Ortiz out of there, hopefully in some style. – MATT McGRAIN

Youth, reach and athleticism may be on Wilder’s side, but there is a sense of urgency and a purpose in Ortiz’s career that has not been appreciated properly so far. If there is something clear about him it is that no one has really tested him to the max, and furthermore, it seems like Ortiz holds back a little bit in most of his fights. His age and oftentimes unenthusiastic demeanor in the ring is usually misinterpreted as a lack of “fire”, but the flame is there and it will probably shine even brighter against Wilder. I see a cautious but clear path to victory for ORTIZ due to sheer size and desire in a tough fight in which the towering Cuban should push hard on the second half of the bout to earn a close decision or even a late stoppage. – DIEGO MORILLA

Sure, Wilder suffers from some obvious technical deficiencies, aspects exacerbated by a championship run made up of mismatches; but the Alabaman is in possession of perhaps the most important quality for a heavyweight: one-punch knockout power. Moreover, in addition to his punching prowess, Wilder, 32, is quicker, taller, longer and younger than Ortiz, 38, who faces questions about his sketchy PED past and possible physical erosion. As he did with Bermane Stiverne in their first fight, WILDER will control the distance with his jab for the first few rounds before complementing it with his thunderous right. Wilder KO10 – SEAN NAM

Wilder by late round stoppage: Ortiz starts well but WILDER holds him at bay with jabs and occasional lead rights. Ortiz tires and finally quits in his corner. – TED SARES

WILDER by early TKO. Any questions about Wilder’s chin remain unanswered as the speed of Wilder’s big, looping punches make Ortiz look a lot more like Bermane Stiverne than Anthony Joshua.—PHIL WOOLEVER

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When two unbeaten big guys face each other, with their demolishing punches and murderous intentions such as the ones displayed so far by America’s WILDER and Cuba’s Ortiz, the key to victory, aside from the obvious categories such as preparation, tactical plan and mental readiness, among other things, is the “assimilation factor,” or the resistance to punches. To wit: who will win? Wilder. How? Eighth round stoppage. Why? Better mobility and a much better physical shape.  – J.J. ALVAREZ  (senior writer, Zona de Boxeo)

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