By Edward Chaykovsky

Promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport made worldwide headlines last week when he announced the promotional signing of feared heavyweight Luis Ortiz (25-0, 22KOs), who a few weeks ago broke ties with Golden Boy Promotions.

Ortiz will make his debut under the Matchroom banner on November 12th against Malik Scott in Monte Carlo.

Upon the deal between Ortiz and Matchroom being complete, everyone began wondering if Hearn would actually place Joshua in the ring with the dangerous Cuban hitter.

Hearn is very interested in making that fight - once he's built up the profile of Ortiz to make it a very marketable fight - which is why Ortiz's will have another fight before the year is out - and that fight will take place on the undercard of Joshua's next fight defense in late November or early December.

Then Hearn plans to bring Ortiz to the United States for a fight in February or March, before bringing him back to the UK. The overall layout if to get Ortiz big enough by next summer, to place him in a major fight - whether it be Joshua, a top name in the division or another world champion.

Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: "Luis Ortiz against Joshua could be a huge fight for 2017 and we have no problem in making that fight if it is the right move.

"People get the impression that AJ is mollycoddled, but they couldn't be more wrong. Look at the Martin fight, everyone looks back and says it was an easy fight, but at the time they were saying it was a hard fight that was coming too early.

"If the reward is there to take the risk against Ortiz, who is very dangerous, and the fight is big enough, then yes, let's do it. We want to build the profile of Ortiz so he can't be ignored and get him in a high value position so he can get these big fights against the best heavyweights out there.

"The plan is for Ortiz to fight on November 12 in Monaco against Malik Scott, then on the undercard of AJ later in the year and then get him out in the United States in February or March of next year."