Lewis Talks Wilder-Ruiz Rematch
Lennox Lewis knows what both Luis Ortiz and Deontay Wilder are preparing to do on November 23rd in Las Vegas.
The former unified world heavyweight champion feels the damage done to Ortiz in the 10th round of their March 2018 showdown.
“Who’s winning the fight?” Lewis said this week. “This time I have to go for the puncher, because I know the boxer gets concussed easy.”
“If you’re easily concussed, then you’re easily concussed,” Lewis, said of Ruiz. “And we did see it in the second round against Christian Hammer. They both caught each other, and it wasn’t that hard of a punch. But if affected Ortiz. That showed me that getting hit around the head, he gets concussed easy. And it’s hard to really build up anything against that. I mean, what are you supposed to do? Wear headgear? I guess the best thing is not to take the punch straight on, and moving with the punch is the best thing.”
“What he’s doing is very difficult for his age,” Lewis continued on the 40-year-old.
“And the first fight, I seen his age a little bit. … Look at the seventh round – he had Deontay hurt, but wasn’t able to take him out. Deontay got him hurt, took him out. So, as you get older, punches to the head, you can’t really deal with them as well as when you’re younger. So, he definitely has to watch out for Deontay’s right hand and definitely has to keep his chin down. But he’s going in there with the belief that, ‘Oh, [I] wasn’t a hundred percent in the first fight.’ So, in the second fight it would be a lot better because he’s worked, he’s sacrificed and he knows what to do.”
“Even to survive that seventh round, it shows that he’s a champion,” Lewis said. “It shows that he’s a warrior. You know what I mean? He’s there to win it. He exudes confidence when he goes out there. That’s what he needs to do. As far as Ortiz, Ortiz lost. He has to psych himself up again and say, ‘Boy, I can’t [let] this guy knock me out again. I was a better boxer. I have to capitalize on my boxing and go out there and box this guy. He can’t box as well as I can. You know, I had him hurt. I can do it again.’ So, that’s what brought Ortiz into the fight, feeling that he can do it, feeling more confident than the last fight. He’s got another opportunity. When you have two opportunities at it, you better make ‘em count.”
“It will be a repeat of the first fight because they both know each other, they know each other’s movements and I believe that Deontay’s gonna get it moving a lot quicker, because it’s not like he hasn’t boxed this guy before. So, he knows what to expect, and he knows he can take him out with one punch. The idea for him is to not really go right-hand crazy, get that jab moving, show him different looks, get that hook going, get that uppercut going. That right hand should be the last one on his mind. You can’t be going out there throwing that left-right. Obviously, Ortiz is looking for that because that’s Deontay’s best punch. So, he’s gotta disguise the run-up to it.”
Report: Boxing Scene