By Ian S Palmer
Heavyweight contender Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz of Cuba returns to the ring this Saturday, March 2nd when he takes on Romania’s Christian Hammer in a 10-round bout at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The contest can be seen live in the USA on Showtime and on TSN 4 in Canada. Ortiz last fought on Dec. 1st when he stopped Travis Kauffman in the 10th round. Hammer fought two weeks later and stopped Michael Wallisch in the fifth round to win the vacant WBO European Heavyweight Title.
The 39-year-old Ortiz had an extensive amateur career and enters the ring with a mark of 30-1 along with 26 Kos. As his record shows, he’s a hard-hitting heavyweight who has a very impressive current knockout ratio of 79 per cent. This is his 11th fight since 2015 and he’s has blasted 13 of his last 19 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 appeared to be on the edge of stopping WBC champion Deontay Wilder last March, but couldn’t put him down though.
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 southpaw who has 144 rounds of action under his belt since turning pro in 2010. He’s got good size at 6-feet-4-inches and has a reach of 78 inches. The Cuban’s biggest wins have been against the likes Thompson, Jennings, Lateef Kayote, Bert Cooper and Monte Barrett. However, his first-round KO over Kayote in 2014 was changed to a no decision after he Ortiz failed a drug test.
The 31-year-old Hammer fights out of Germany and climbs through the ropes with a record of 25-5 along with 14 Kos. He has decent power, but isn’t regarded as a home-run hitter with a knockout ratio of 48 per cent. He’s 6-feet-2-inches tall with an unlisted reach so will be giving up two inches in height to Ortiz. Hammer has 167 rounds under his belt since turning pro in 2008. He’s faced some decent opposition such as Alexander Povetkin, David Price, Tyson Fury, Kevin Johnson, Danny Williams, Michael Sprott, Sherman Williams and Mariusz Wach. Hammer’s lost just twice in his last 19 fights.
His first defeat since 2011 was to Fury in February of 2015 when the contest was halted at the end of the eighth round and he dropped a unanimous decision to Povetkin in Dec, 2017. His other career losses came against Wach by sixth-round KO in 2010, Taras Bidenko by sixth-round majority decision in 2010, and by a first-round stoppage to Robert Gregor in his pro debut back in 2008. Since he’s been stopped in three of his five defeats and has been dropped several other times he has a questionable chin and that definitely won’t help him out Ortiz. Hammer’s a solid European-level boxer, but will need to be at his very best to upset Ortiz.
Prediction…
Hammer has good experience, but he simply doesn’t appear to have the type of chin needed to beat Ortiz. Nobody really know how old the Cuban is, but Ortiz just keeps coming forward in most bouts and has the power to stop the majority of heavyweights. I’m expecting Ortiz to record another win and will bed a bit surprised if it goes the distance.
