By Steve Kim
For the past few weeks there had been talk of a heavyweight match-up between unbeatens Luis Ortiz (27-0, 23 KOs) and Jarrell 'Big Baby' Miller (18-0-1, 16 KOs) - a fight that both Showtime and HBO were said to be interested in - but it looks like this fight will not materialize any time soon.
His co-promoter, Greg Cohen told BoxingScene.com on Friday morning:
"Jarrell and his team would definitely like to fight Ortiz but after a lot of discussion in the media and discussion with myself and Dmitry Salita, my co-promoter, and Eddie Hearn, Eddie has gone pretty much radio silent," said Cohen.
Well, it turns out that Hearn, who is the managing director of Matchroom Sport, does not have a formal agreement to promote 'King Kong'. They are working on a fight by fight basis, according to Ortiz's lead promoter.
"At this point we would love that opportunity but it takes two to tango and they don't seem to interested at this point and so we're going to have to look in another direction," said Cohen.
Miller is currently entangled in a legal battle with Salita. But Cohen states - ''I believe that situation will get resolved. I'm very hopeful in the very near future we'll be able to come up with an announcement of a fight date for Jarrell and a plan to move forward."
Ortiz is likely weighing up his options. He is currently the WBA's mandatory challenger to the winner of Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko, which takes place on April 29th in London. He's also ranked at number 2 by the WBC and stands in position for a soon to be ordered final eliminator, with the winner receiving a mandatory crack at world champion Deontay Wilder, who makes a voluntary defense against Gerald Washington on February 25.
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.
