By Edward Chaykovsky
IBF heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua (17-0, 17KOs) couldn't care one way or the other about Luis Ortiz (25-0, 22KOs) recently joining Matchroom Sport.
Ortiz, who a few months ago parted ways with Golden Boy Promotions, shocked a lot of people when he signed up with Eddie Hearn's UK-based promotional company. Many were linking the feared heavyweight to Roc Nation Sports and Al Haymon's Premier Boxing Champions.
Ortiz will make his debut under the Matchroom banner on November 12th against Malik Scott in Monte Carlo.
Hearn is very interested in making a potential fight between Ortiz and Joshua - once he's built up the profile of Ortiz to make it a very marketable matchup- 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 on December 10.
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."
Joshua is not bothered, and he's not jumping for joy either, about Hearn's signing of Ortiz.
"I really don’t really care about what anyone else is doing, apart from people that I love dearly and I care about dearly. If it works for Luis Ortiz, I’m happy for Luis Ortiz. If it works for Eddie, then I’m happy for Eddie. But him signing Luis Ortiz has no direct effect on any plans I have in my life, so I don’t really mind, I don’t really have any opinion on it," Joshua told Boxing News.
"[Hearn] didn’t speak to me before, he spoke to me after. It’s his promotional company, and he makes the decisions at the end of the day. I’m just a fighter in his stable."
