Luis Ortiz: record, next fight and profile →
WBC heavyweight champion Deontay "The Bronze Bomber" Wilder is only a few days away from his scheduled defense against Cuban slugger Luis "King Kong" Ortiz. On Tuesday the two boxers made their grand arrivals at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Deontay Wilder, Luis Ortiz Grand Arrivals Photos Gallery - WBC Heavyweight Champion Deontay "The Bronze Bomber" Wilder and Cuban slugger Luis "King Kong" Ortiz made their grand arrivals Tuesday at MGM Grand as they kicked off fight week events ahead of their highly anticipated rematch that headlines a FOX Sports PBC Pay-Per-View this Saturday, November 23 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. (photos Ryan Hafey & Stephanie Trapp)
LOS ANGELES – The lone loss of Luis Ortiz’s professional boxing career has eaten at him for 20 months. Getting knocked down three times by Deontay Wilder isn’t the only thing that bothers the proud Cuban contender about his 10th-round, technical-knockout defeat. It’s that he had Wilder hurt in the final 40 seconds of the seventh round and couldn’t complete the job against the unbeaten WBC heavyweight champion.
With two more programs related to the heavyweight title fight rematch between Deontay Wilder and Luis Ortiz come as many viewership records established by Fox Sports. The fourth and final installment of Wilder vs. Ortiz: PBC Fight Camp—which aired Sunday on Fox prime in conjunction with coverage of the Fox National Football League (NFL) Game of the Week—averaged a series best 2.438 million viewers according to Nielsen Media Research. The segment—which chronicled the final stages of training camp for both participants ahead of their Nov. 23 rematch, which airs live on Fox Sports Pay-Per-View from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada—immediately followed Fox’s live NFL coverage in most markets, while preceding the event in the remaining coverage areas.
LOS ANGELES – The lasting image from Deontay Wilder’s 10th-round technical knockout of Luis Ortiz is one of Ortiz, battered and beaten, on his gloves and knees. Referee David Fields kneeled beside Ortiz as soon as he suffered that second knockdown in the 10th round. Fields sensed Ortiz had endured more than enough punishment, thus he immediately waved an end to their scheduled 12-round fight for Wilder’s WBC heavyweight title in March 2018 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
By Lyle Fitzsimmons - Luis Ortiz thinks quite highly of Deontay Wilder. In fact, during a recent interview with Boxing Scene, he interchangeably labeled the WBC champion as both the best heavyweight in the world and the best heavyweight of the era. Nevertheless, he expects that impression to change this weekend. The 40-year-old Cuban will get...
Heavyweight contender Luis Ortiz will be looking to avoid the judges when he faces WBC world champion Deontay Wilder in their rematch. Ortiz will get the opportunity for revenge on Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. They first collided back in March of 2018, with Ortiz getting stopped in the tenth round. He managed to hurt Wilder badly in the seventh round, but he was unable to finish the champion off.
FOX Sports’ team of announcers will be slightly different for the network’s Deontay Wilder-Luis Ortiz pay-per-view show Saturday night. BoxingScene.com has learned that Brian Kenny will work as FOX’s blow-by-blow announcer, alongside analysts Lennox Lewis and Joe Goossen, when those heavyweights square off again for Wilder’s WBC title at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Kenny Albert usually fills the blow-by-blow role for FOX, though Kenny worked several boxing broadcasts for FOX from 2015-18.
Deontay Wilder has yet to witness Tyson Fury’s foray into pro wrestling, but certainly doesn’t hate on his heavyweight divisional rival for exploring another form of revenue source and marketing his brand.
Luis Ortiz—and specifically, his team—turned down a chance to face Anthony Joshua earlier this year, but couldn’t have been more thrilled for the heavyweight who landed the assignment. Andy Ruiz became the replacement appointment of choice to face England’s Joshua (22-1, 21KOs), whom he dropped four times en route to a 7th round knockout this past June in one of the biggest heavyweight title upsets in history. The opportunity was first offered to Ortiz, whose team declined in ultimately landing on a rematch with Deontay Wilder (41-0-1, 40KOs).