Luis Ortiz: record, next fight and profile →
Sweat pours down the face of heavyweight Luis Ortiz. He wraps up his training session at Tropical Park and without much rest sets out to answer questions about the subject everyone wants to know about: his potential fight against former world champion Andy Ruiz - which some expect to take place sometime in the summer, probably August.
Andy Ruiz will have to honor his original commitment. BoxingScene.com has learned that a fight with Luis Ortiz is back in play for Ruiz, barely 48 hours after the former unified WBA/IBF/WBO/IBO heavyweight titlist was revealed to next face Tyrone Spong atop a July 16 Triller Pay-Per-View event from Plaza de Toros in Mexico City. The announcement came as a surprise to many in the media, including Ortiz and Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) who reminded the California-based Mexican heavyweight of a deal in place for an in-house clash later this summer.
Luis Ortiz isn’t exactly sure of the next step in his career. What he is certain of is who he won’t next face, despite promises to the contrary. The former two-time heavyweight challenger was chief among those let down—though not surprised—by the recent announcement of Andy Ruiz next facing unbeaten fringe heavyweight contender Tyrone Spong (14-0, 13KOs). Ruiz-Spong is due to take place July 16 on a Triller Pay-Per-View event from Plaza de Toros in Mexico City, Ruiz’s first fight in Mexico since 2010 and his first fight anywhere since a twelve-round decision win over Chris Arreola last May 1 in Carson, California.
Back in early January, former title challenger Luis “King Kong” Ortiz (33-2) was ordered by the IBF to face Filip Hrgovic (14-0) in a heavyweight final eliminator. The winner would have become IBF/WBA/WBO/IBO champion Oleksandr Usyk’s mandatory challenger.
If Anthony Joshua does not end up getting his immediate rematch with heavyweight titlist Oleksandr Usyk, the British star will not lack for suitors.
The process to secure an opponent for Filip Hrgovic is creeping closer to the one heavyweight on record who is willing to accept the assignment. BoxingScene.com has learned that former titlists Murat Gassiev and Andy Ruiz Jr. are the latest to decline an invitation to enter talks for an IBF title eliminator with Croatia’s Hrgovic. Gassiev and Ruiz were required to inform the New Jersey-based sanctioning body by January 21 as to whether they were available to pursue such a fight, though both cited injury rehabilitation as the cause for their lack of availability. The IBF has yet to confirm the removal of Gassiev and Ruiz Jr. from the process or whether a similar approach will be taken of contacting two heavyweights at a time. The latter would mean that Australia’s Demsey McKean (20-0, 13KOs) and China’s Zhilei Zhang (21-0-1, 13KOs) are on deck.
The search continues to find an available ranked heavyweight challenger for Filip Hrgovic. Hopes of matching the unbeaten Croatian with former amateur rival Tony Yoka in a final title eliminator were thwarted late Thursday evening. The IBF ruled in favor of an appeal filed by Martin Bakole, who less than 48 hours prior successfully argued that he is still owed a fight with Yoka which leaves the unbeaten Frenchman ineligible to enter an agreement with any other opponent.
Tony Yoka is prepared to revisit an old rivalry from his amateur days. BoxingScene.com has confirmed that Paris’ Yoka—a 2016 Olympic Gold medalist and current rising heavyweight contender—has accepted an invitation from the IBF to enter talks for a final title eliminator versus Croatia’s Filip Hrgovic. His decision comes just before the three-day deadline to decide whether to pursue such a fight. “Tony Yoka has formally accepted tonight in writing the challenge to fight Filip Hrgovic in a final IBF Final Eliminator for the heavyweight world championship,” Nisse Sauerland of Wasserman Boxing, Hrgovic’s co-promoter announced Thursday afternoon via social media. “’El Animal has found a dance partner.”
Filip Hrgovic doesn’t buy Luis Ortiz’s excuse. The Croatian contender has been angling for a chance to square off against a fellow top-ranked name in an IBF eliminator for the past year but has been unable to entice anyone of note.
Don’t expect trainer Manny Robles to send a holiday greeting card anytime soon to the referee who presided over the Luis Ortiz-Charles Martin heavyweight bout.