By Victor Salazar
Washington DC - In what was a stay busy fight for rising heavyweight contender Luis Ortiz, he scored a knockout over veteran Tony Thompson this past Saturday. He knocked Thompson down multiple times finally scoring a knockout in the 6th round.
Ortiz, who holds the interim-WBA heavyweight championship, is involved in a tournament set by the sanctioning body in order to establish a single WBA champion at the weight.
The "regular" champion for the sanctioning organization is Lucas Browne who scored a knockout over Ruslan Chagaev to win the title this past weekend. And the WBA's "super" champion is Tyson Fury, who is heading to a rematch with Wladimir Klitschko.
While the tournament is supposed to crown one champion, in boxing there are always political hurdles. But what Ortiz wants is a fight with Alexander Ustinov, who the WBA ordered him to fight in the said tournament.
“Ustinov is what’s next for me and we’re going to beat his head in,” Ortiz told BoxingScene.com in Spanish.
Ustinov (33-1, 24KOs), standing at a very tall 6'7, picked up knockout victories over Konstantin Airich, Maurice Harris and Travis Walker. All three opponents are way beyond their best days and are not even close to the current level of Ortiz.
Per the WBA, the fight has to take place by June and Ustinov, by way of his promoter Frank Warren, has accepted the organization's invitation to fight Ortiz for the interim-belt.
When asked about his feelings on the tournament, Ortiz stated:
“They (The WBA) did something good. I am really appreciative that they took notice of me. Since they have that confidence in me I’m going to represent and do well in the tournament.”