By Victor Salazar
WBA interim-heavyweight champion Luis Ortiz (25-0, 22KOs) believes that he has all of the necessary ingredients to blow through the entire heavyweight division.
This past Saturday night, Ortiz knocked out veteran Tony Thompson in six rounds in Washington, DC. Ortiz became the first fighter, besides Wladimir Klitschk, to stop Thompson inside the distance.
As part of the World Boxing Association's mandatory tournament to establish a single WBA world champion at heavyweight, Ortiz must now face once-beaten Alexander Ustinov of Russia.
The WBA currently has three champions in the division. Lucas Browne captured the "regular" title last Saturday with a knockout of Ruslan Chagaev in Grozny. The WBA's "super" champion is Tyson Fury, who faces Wladimir Klitschko in a contracted rematch in the coming months. The winners of Ortiz-Browne and Fury-Klitschko will have to eventually face each other.
Another fighter on Ortiz's radar is WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (36-0, 35KOs), who also a mandatory obligation against a once-beaten Russian fighter, Olympic gold medal winner and former WBA champion Alexander Povetkin. That fight is expected to take place in May. Wilder was in action this past January when he retained his title with a brutal ninth round knockout of Polish contender Artur Szpilka at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Ortiz has a lot of respect for Wilder, but predicts that his championship reign will end once the two of them step in the ring with each other.
“He has talent but I think I’m right there and I’d love to fight him. He has to be respected because he’s a champion until King Kong gets to fight him,“ Ortiz said.
