WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder is still convinced that he without question scored a knockout victory over Tyson Fury, back in December 2018.
Wilder dropped Fury in brutal fashion in the twelfth and final round. Fury appeared to be out cold as he laid motionless on the mat.
But the referee gave him the benefit of doubt and allowed Fury, who barely beat the count, to continue the contest. Fury was able to recover and fought well for the rest of the round.
"I knocked that fool out. He got blessed by the referee. He had favoritism," Wilder said to Sky Sports.
Wilder is now scheduled to face Luis Ortiz in a rematch on November 23rd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Should Wilder win, he would then face Fury in a rematch on a date in February.
But the Ortiz fight presents some danger. The contest is a far more dangerous than Fury's last two bouts against Tom Schwarz and Otto Wallin. Ortiz had Wilder in a lot of trouble in the seventh round of their March 2018 encounter. Wilder recovered, rallied, and stopped Ortiz in the tenth round.
However, Ortiz is now 40-years-old and didn't appear to be as deadly in his recent fights.
"He was the boogey-man for a reason," Wilder said. "To this day, they don't fight him for a reason.
"They say he's old, but they won't fight this old man. Plenty of people have had the opportunity to become my mandatory, and all they've had to do is fight Luis Ortiz. They never gave him the opportunity. I'm the best in the world and I believe in that.
"No-one wants to face him but I feel it's my duty as champion. This fight is to prove everyone else who I am. I know who I am. I wasn't proving it to myself. I just needed that moment to prove to others."
