By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten WBC Heavyweight Champion Deontay Wilder will be defending his crown against unbeaten Luis Ortiz of Cuba at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York this Saturday, March 3rd. The contest can be seen live in the UK on Sky Sports while American fans can catch it on the Showtime Network and Canadians can see it live on TSN 2. Wilder last fought in February when he stopped Bermane Stiverne in the first round of their rematch. Ortiz last fought in December when he stopped Daniel Martz in the second round. Wilder and Ortiz were scheduled to meet over a year ago, but Ortiz failed a drug test.
Wilder beat former WBC champ Stiverne on points in January, 2015 to claim the title and he’s been the champion ever since. Before running into Stiverne, Wilder had stopped all 32 of his opponents including Malik Scott and Audley Harrison. The 32-year-old Wilder of Tuscaloosa, Alabama will climb into the ring with a perfect record of 39-0 along with 38 Kos and will be defending his title for the seventh time. Therefore, Stiverne is still the only man who has gone the distance with him.
Wilder is a former Olympic bronze medalist who became the first American in close to a decade to own a portion of the heavyweight title when he beat Stiverne. That victory made him the first American heavyweight since 2007 to win a world belt with Shannon Briggs being the last to do it. Wilder is basically best known for two things, which are his size and his power. He stands 6-feet-7-inches tall, has an 83-inch reach, and has stopped every man he’s faced since he stopped Stiverne in the rematch.
The champion has 113 rounds under his belt since turning pro in 2008 and his knockout ratio currently stands at 97 per cent. Just five of his 38 Ko victims have made it past the fourth round. However, they were five of his last six opponents; Gerald Washington, Eric Molina, Johann Duhaupas, Artur Szpilka and Chris Arreola. So even though he destroyed Stiverne in less than three minutes in November, is Wilder’s power waning?
The 38-year-old Ortiz had an extensive amateur career and enters the ring with a perfect mark of 28-0 along with 24 Kos. As his record shows, he’s is a hard-hitting heavyweight who has a current knockout ratio of 80 per cent. This is his eighth fight since 2015 year and he’s has blasted 12 of his last 16 opponents out in four rounds or less. He isn’t interested in hearing what the judges have to say about his performances as he’s always looking for a stoppage.
Ortiz has pretty good hand speed and likes to throw combinations, but other than Bryant Jennings, Tony Thompson and Malik Scott, he hasn’t really faced any top quality opponents. Ortiz is a still a solid southpaw who has 123 rounds of action under his belt since turning pro back in 2010. He’s got good size at 6-feet-4-inches tall and has a reach of 84 inches, so he’s three inches shorter than Wilder with an inch reach advantage.
The Cuban’s biggest wins have been against the likes of the 44-year-old Thompson along with Jennings, Lateef Kayote, Bert Cooper and Monte Barrett. However, his first-round Ko over Kayote back in September of 2014 year was later changed to a no decision after Ortiz failed a drug test. Nobody really knows just how good Ortiz’s chin is since he hasn’t really been tagged right on the chin as of yet. However, the same can be said of Wilder.
Prediction…
Since neither of these guys has been nailed on the chin by a heavy hitter as of yet it’s going to be interesting to see how they each react when they get hit. Ortiz can be frustrated by movement and good boxing skills and because of this I can see Wilder retaining his title on points…as long as he can handle the challenger’s power.
