By Jake Donovan
The hunt continues to find a willing opponent for Luis Ortiz' next ring appearance. The unbeaten Cuban souhtpaw is due to headline a March 5 edition of HBO's Boxing After Dark, but the clock is winding down for the staff at Golden Boy Promotions to come up with a suitable candidate.
A variety of heavyweight contenders have been offered the opportunity. Some have flat out declined, while others are interested but simply want more time to train for such a fight. Of those under consideration, Russia-born, Minsk-based Alexander Ustinov not only wants the fight but is guaranteed a crack at Ortiz, who reigns as the World Boxing Association (WBA) interim heavyweight titlist.
Their matchup was listed by WBA President Gilberto Mendoza as a first-round pairing for a heavyweight tournament proposed by the sanctioning body. It was made with the understanding that such a fight may not happen next, but will certainly happen down the road as Ortiz must honor the mandatory defense by no later than June 23. That remains the intention for Team Ustinov, who for the moment would like more than barely a month's notice and also the demand of traveling to the United States.
"Absolutely, we very much want to fight Ortiz," Vlad Hrunov, Ustinov's co-promoter (along with Frank Warren) told BoxingScene.com. "A win over Ortiz means getting to fight the winner of (the rematch between Wolrd heavyweight champion) Tyson Fury and Wladimir Klitschko. This remains our goal, to become the heavyweight champion of the world."
Hrunov was hell-bent on securing promotional rights for Fury-Klitschko I. The wealthy promoter from Russia was present at the ordered purse bid hearing last summer and would have won such honors had the session not been canceled literally at the last minute. A deal was reached between Klitschko - at the time still the lineal heavyweight champ and also the WBA "super" titlist - and Fury, his unbeaten mandatory challenger, thus leaving Hrunov and others with little more than wasted airfare expenses to show for their efforts.
Fury went on to upset Klitschko in their world title clash last November, having since been contractually forced to negotiate a rematch which is expected to take place this upcoming spring. Their sequel is also part of the WBA tournament, along with Ortiz-Ustinov, as well as Ruslan Chagaev - the WBA "regular" titlist - versus Lucas Browne, with the winner of that fight due to face Fres Oquendo on the other side of the bracket.
The WBA's intention is to clean up the mess created in presenting three different heavyweight titlists. Ustinov (33-1, 24KOs) - who has won six straight - and his team remain very much on board, but for now will allow Ortiz to do as he pleases before reentering talks for their mandatory title fight.
"Frank Warren and I, we will sit down and talk to Golden Boy Promotions about making this fight happen," Hrunov promises. "It would not make any sense for Alexander to not fight Luis Ortiz. March 5 is too soon, plus we would like to have the option of presenting the fight where both fighters can make the most amount of money.
"We would like to discuss possibly bringing the fight to England (where Warren is based and serves as a leading promoter) or Russia, whether through an agreement (with Golden Boy Promotions) or winning a purse bid hearing if we can't come to terms."
Ortiz and his team will continue the search for their final granted voluntary defense, after which he will be ordered to enter negotiations with Ustinov.
Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox