Hopefully Ortiz can fight wilder outside of the USA
The ref helped wilder big time last time to surivive when Ortiz had him out
Ortiz was literally saved by the bell a couple rounds before......When he hurt Wilder he had an entire damn round to finish him but couldn't even drop him.
Whyte and Hearn were furious at the thought of a mandatory fight with Ortiz. I hope Parker tunes him up. To me Whyte is just above gatekeeper status.
Parker is decent but not on Ortiz's level. That's why AJ chose him.
I would of preferred Whyte/Ortiz but as a 2nd option this fight is a very good competitive fight. As for why Whyte chose not to fight Ortiz well there are too many reasons.
Parker fight makes more money pure and simple, hell it's PPV in the UK. Parker has probably the highest profile in the UK for a non Brit heavyweight and while he lost to AJ casuals will see him as the first guy to take AJ the distance.
Ortiz simply isn't a draw, what's his career high payday 500K vs Wilder? While Parker was making over a million fighting the likes of Hughie Fury. Money talks in this game and Ortiz brings nothing to the table, he's all risk no reward.
British casuals lasting memory of Ortiz is him struggling with Scott and looking poor against Allen. Plus he was KO'ed in his last fight. Plus at his age he could just be seen as another old man like Browne. Hardcore fans will know better but to casuals the optics of the fight don't look good which is why Whyte/Ortiz would of never been PPV in the UK.
Ortiz has a history of being difficult to work with. Hearn has had the July date at the O2 for some time and Ortiz clearly not willing to fight then in comparison to Parker who took the fight on relatively short notice and agreed a deal in 48 hrs. In comparison Ortiz got into a dispute with own promoters Goldenboy and bought out his contract with them despite them securing him a final eliminator vs Ustinov a fight Ortiz backed out off at the last minute not once but twice. Hyrunov, Ustinov's promoter said Ortiz was "problematic and imploded the fight". Ortiz also refused to sign a deal with Hearn only agreeing a fight by fight deal, so unsurprisingly Hearn chose Pulev over Ortiz for his first mandatory.
Fact is Parker was an easier fight to make and makes more money. Ortiz isn't a young man, if he's to secure any meaningful fights he's going to have to be more amenable to work with, he wasted his prime years already, what few years he has left at the top of the game shouldn't be squandered.
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