By Ian S Palmer
Veteran Luis Ortiz of Cuba will be taking on former IBF Heavyweight Champion Charles Martin of St. Louis, Missouri in Hollywood, Florida this Saturday, January 1st. The 12-round heavyweight bout between the two southpaws can be seen live in North America on Fox pay-per-view. Ortiz last fought in November, 2020 when he stopped Alexander Flores in just 45 seconds. Martin was last in action in February, 2020 when he stopped Gerald Washington in the sixth round.
Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz is currently listed as being 42 years old and after an extensive amateur career he enters the ring with a mark of 32-2 with 27 Kos. As his record shows, he’s a hard-hitting heavyweight who has a very impressive current knockout ratio of 75 per cent. This is his 14th fight since 2015 and he’s has blasted several of his 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 with just two of his last 33 fights going the distance.
Ortiz has lost two of his last six outings though. He appeared to be on the edge of stopping Deontay Wilder in their first meeting in 2018 but couldn’t put him down and was stopped in his shot at the WBC title in the seventh round. He was then halted in the seventh stanza of their rematch in 2019. In addition, Ortiz stopped Lateef Kayode in the first round in 2014 but the bout was later ruled a no-contest after Ortiz failed a drug test. He also fought a three-round no-contest with Joseph Rabotte in 2013 when Rabotte fell out of the ring and wasn’t able to continue.
Ortiz has decent hand speed for a big guy and likes to throw combinations, but other than Wilder, Bryant Jennings, Tony Thompson and Malik Scott, he hasn’t faced a steady stream of top-quality opponents. Still, he’s a solid contender who has 162 rounds of action under his belt since turning pro in 2010. He’s got good size at 6-feet-4-inches and with a reach of 78 inches and his biggest wins have been against the likes of Thompson, Jennings, Bert Cooper, Christian Hammer and Monte Barrett. However, when he stepped up in class to take on Wilder he fell just short of the mark and his inability to take Wilder’s hardest shots didn’t do him any favours.
The 35-year-old Martin of St. Louis enters the contest with a mark of 28-2-1 with 25 Kos. The southpaw won the vacant IBF title against Vyacheslav Glazkov in January, 2016 when Glazkov suffered a knee injury in the third round. The title was vacant after it was stripped from Tyson Fury for failing to defend his crown against Glazkov. However, Martin was stopped in the second round by Anthony Joshua in his first defence of the belt just three months later.
Martin has good size at 6-feet-5-inches and an 80-inch reach which gives him an inch edge in height and two-inch advantage in reach n Ortiz. He’d also rather stop his opponent than go to the scorecards though and if he can use the jab and land some quick combinations he should give Ortiz something to think about. He turned pro in 2012 and has just 105 rounds under his belt since then. He has an impressive knockout ratio of 80.7 per cent. The only other blemish on his record was a 10-round unanimous decision loss at the hands of Adam Kownacki in September, 2018.
Martin’s lone draw was a four-round affair with Alvaro Morales back in 2013. Like Ortiz, Martin has struggled when stepping up in class but has wins against boxers such as Vincent Thompson, Joey Dawejko, Glendy Hernandez, Tyyab Beale, Alexander Flores, Raphael Zumbano, Damon McCreary, Tom Dallas, Byron Polley and Michael Marrone. Martin also won the vacant WBO NABO Heavyweight title with his fourth-round stoppage of Flores in 2014 and defended it four times.
Prediction…
The ageless Ortiz just keeps coming forward in most bouts and has the power to stop the majority of heavyweights. He staggered Wilder in their two meetings but couldn’t finish the job and ultimately paid for it. But even though Wilder stopped him twice he’s actually got a pretty good chin. Martin shouldn’t be underestimated as he also has a lot of dynamite in his fists and fans will be surprised if this fight goes the distance. The key here will be chins and power and whoever lands the first big bomb could very well win it. Whoever gets rocked first will have to make sure they survive but I’m expecting Ortiz to eventually emerge with a victory.
