“King Kong” Ortíz Battles Against Time and the Demands of his Rivals

About to turn 40 years old on the 29^th of March, the giant Cuban Luis Ortíz is pressured equally by both his age and the demands of his potential adversaries. Even though he currently possesses the abilities necessary to achieve his dream of becoming the first Cuban heavyweight world champion, just like any mortal, his time in the sport is running out.

But “King Kong” Ortíz (30-1-0, 26 KOs) is a victim of his own quality, that which he has demonstrated against all of his adversaries, including the current world champion, American Deontay Wilder.  On March 3^rd of last year at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, Ortíz was defeated by Wilder by technical knockout in the 10^th round, after having previously been knocked down in the 5^th.

The outcome made it seem as if “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder had made significant progress in terms of his skill. But this is far from the truth. Ortíz pushed the champion to his limits but didn’t succeed in capturing victory due to a lack of “killer instinct”. When the fight was in his favor, he hesitated to go in for the finish.  In the 6^th round, Ortíz landed powerful blows against Wilder, who attempted to evade them to the best of his abilities, and there seemed there would be a knockdown. But the final blows were too close to the bell and Ortíz didn’t take advantage of the situation. He was far too conservative in the 7^th round, never going all in and allowing Wilder to catch a second wind. What could have been was no more. The power punches of the North American pulverized the Cuban, and in the 10^th round it was all over.

Now Ortíz will face the Romanian Christian Hammer (24-5-0, 14 KO’s) on the 2^nd of March (just 27 days before he turns 40 years old) at the Barclays Center, the same place where he fell victim to the power of Wilder one year ago. Ortíz opens as the favorite against the Galanti born fighter, who has compiled a few knockout victories, with the most recent being against the German Michael Wallisch in the 5^th round on the 15^th of December in the German city of Hamburg.

Almost immediately after his fight against Wilder, Ortíz requested an opportunity for a rematch through social media and in all of his interviews. But due to his tremendous ability, there have been many obstacles in terms of negotiation.

And it hasn’t only been an obstacle for the rematch with Wilder, the other fighters in the heavyweight division make exorbitant demands in order to face the Cuban, who doesn’t care about the trajectory, age, or record of those whom he will face in the ring. “Who’s looking for me, will find me. I’m ready for anybody”, said Ortíz on various occasions.

“Its crazy, something unthinkable, fighters with a name who want to fight (against Ortíz) are asking up to $60 million” stated the Cuban’s trainer Germán Caicedo, to a Miami newspaper. “That’s not possible. Luis still hasn’t had a pay-per-view fight, so we will continue to face the top talent in the division that we have access to”.

Since his loss against Wilder, Ortíz has scored two consecutive knockouts. In July he stopped the Romanian Razvan Cojanu in the 2^nd round. In December at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Ortiz needed 10 rounds to put the nail in the coffin against the American Travis “My Time” Kauffman, after knocking him down in the 6^th and 8^th round, the referee Thomas Taylor was prompted to finally stop the onslaught, with no chance of victory for the local.

Even though he didn’t mention Wilder directly, the trainer Caicedo affirmed, “We aren’t going to wait for anybody, we aren’t going to waste time for this or that to get decided. We will continue fighting. But if at the end the opportunity for a title does not present itself, which remains to be Luis’s primary objective. He has lived and lives in boxing. He has also brought his family, he has a daughter that is recovering from an illness, he created a new life and for him, that’s all a great accomplishment”.

Joe Joyce and Oleksandr Usyk: Nothing But Words.

Ortíz in the beginning, before signing to fight Hammer, pondered the challenge proposed by the British Joe “Juggernaut” Joyce (7-0-0, 7 KO’S), who on the same night of the Cuban’s defeat of Kauffman annihilated the American Joe Hanks (23-3-0, 15 KO’S) in the 1^st round. Euphoric in victory, the “Juggernaut” challenged the other contenders and specifically Ortíz.

“I’m ready for any opponent and I want to fight those at the highest level”, said Joyce after defeating Hanks. “I have a lot of experience and I only have to improve my strength and speed. I’m ready to show everybody what I can do. Ortíz is on my list”

Ortíz’s response to the “Juggernaut” took no time: “I don’t turn down fights, it’s the first time I’ve been challenged this way, so say no more, challenge accepted, we’re going do this”. But after ludicrous monetary demands were made by the British side, which were impossible to accept, conversations ceased.

Another surprising turn in Ortíz’s future came with the offer of a high-profile fight against The Ukrainian southpaw Cruiserweight World Champion Oleksandr Usyk, who stated that he would move up in weight. Usyk has been recognized as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world and for many publications –including Zona de Boxeo – the best boxer of 2018.

The only actual champion with the four most prestigious titles (WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO), Usyk (16-0-0, 12 KOs) signed a co-promotional contract last year with Matchroom, a company that represents various heavyweight fighters, including Dillian Whyte, Jarrell Miller, Dereck Chisora and Anthony Joshua, the current WBA, IBF, and WBO champion.

“At this moment we aren’t negotiating with anyone,” stated Usyk’s promoter Alexander Krasyuk. “I can confirm that we are experiencing problems finding an opponent of the adequate level and skill of our boxer”.

Krasyuk explained that both Joseph Parker and Jarrell Miller turned down the fight against Usyk. Meanwhile, Carlos Takam is trying to confirm a fight against Chisora and Dillian Whyte hopes to do the same with Dominic Breazeale.

“Therefore, our only options are Luis Ortíz and Alexander Povetkin. Both are top level heavyweights, with real chances of being Usyk’s first opponent at heavyweight”, said Krasyuk, who added that if those options were to fall out, they could accept an obligatory defense against Denis Lebedev in March.

With three victories last year, Usyk defeated the Latvian Mairis Briedis in January, the Russian Murat “Iron” Gassiev during the final season of the World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) in July, and the Englishman Tony Bellew in November.

Later not much else was said about “Usyk-Ortíz” and like the previous potential fights, it never came to fruition. At that point, Hammer turned out to be the saving grace in stopping Ortíz’s clock of competitive inactivity.

Translated by E.G. for J.J. Alvarez of Boxeo.tv

Check out more boxing news on video at The Boxing Channel

To comment on this article at The Fight Forum, CLICK HERE