By Edward Chaykovsky
Promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport is slowly building up a big fight between two of his biggest heavyweights, IBF world champion Anthony Joshua (17-0, 17KOs) and Cuban banger Luis Ortiz (26-0, 22KOs).
A few months ago, Ortiz signed on with Hearn and made his Matchroom debut last Saturday night in Monte Carlo. He won a very lackluster twelve round unanimous decision over veteran Malik Scott. Ortiz spent the entire fight chasing after Scott, who had no intention to engage.
"That is one of the reasons we decided to work with him," Hearn told Sky Sports. "He's one of the top heavyweights in the world and one of the most dangerous heavyweights in the world. Joshua is going to want meet all these guys and Luis Ortiz is no exception.
Joshua and Ortiz will both return on December 10th in Manchester. Joshua will defend his world title against Eric Molina, while Ortiz appears on the undercard against an opponent to be announced.
If Joshua wins, he would then face former division king Wladimir Klitschko in March - with the vacant WBA/IBO titles also at stake. Ortiz holds a top ranking with the WBA, so he will eventually become a mandatory challenger to the title.
"He is ranked No 1 by the WBA and it's likely that he will become the mandatory after Joshua-Klitschko and he's now highly-ranked by the IBF as well. I've spoken to AJ about it and he wants to fight all the top guys, and he considers Ortiz to be one of the very top guys in the division. We are talking about potentially 10 to 12 months down the line," Hearn said.
"We are trying to build Anthony Joshua in America and we are looking to build Ortiz in America, Europe and all over the world."
