Wilder Drops Ortiz in Seven
Deontay Wilder remains unbeaten and one of the top faces of boxing’s heavyweight division, as he finished off Luis Ortiz once again to retain the WBC heavyweight championship.
This fight served as a rematch to their March 2018 encounter, which saw Wilder put Ortiz away in 10 rounds, and served as the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) pay-per-view card at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
With the win, Wilder has made 10 successful defenses of the WBC title, putting him in elite company by joining an elite group of fighters with double-digit successful heavyweight title defenses alongside the likes of Joe Louis, the Klitschko brothers and Muhammad Ali. In fact, he ties Ali for most consecutive successful title defenses.
Ladies and gentlemen, the baddest man on the planet, @BronzeBomber! #BOMBZQUAD #WilderOrtiz2 #PBConFOX pic.twitter.com/YGSYYQKNHT
— PBC (@premierboxing) November 24, 2019
But things didn’t look like they would go this way at the start. Things began with a slow feeling-out process, similar to their first encounter, with Ortiz landing a few hard lefts in the first round and Wilder working his left hand in the second.
Like their first fight, Ortiz took control at one point. The difference was this time, it seemed he controlled most of it. After a quiet third round, Ortiz started to unleash some of his power in round four, trapping Wilder in a corner briefly and firing off hard combinations, though Wilder held his ground. Ortiz continued to be the more active man in the ring in the next round.
It's heating up! 🔥
Luis Ortiz lands some big shots in Round 4, the @BronzeBomber beats his chest in response, @kingkongboxing style 👀
Order #WilderOrtiz2 ➡️ https://t.co/ytIgB1yxN5 pic.twitter.com/nMe90yYrAW
— FOX Sports: PBC (@PBConFOX) November 24, 2019
Wilder started to get back into things in the sixth, where he landed several hard left hands and blocked Ortiz’s power shots.
Then, after doing much of the same in the seventh, Wilder closed things out in the final minute of the round with a solid right hand that dropped Ortiz, who failed to beat the count.
1️⃣ 👊💣 changes everything. @bronzebomber successfully defends his world title for the 10th consecutive time with a spectacular RD7 KO of Luis "King Kong" Ortiz. #WilderOrtiz2 #PBConFOX #BOMBZQUAD pic.twitter.com/a0SZhgvGUg
— PBC (@premierboxing) November 24, 2019
With the win, Wilder now appears ready to move on to an anticipated rematch with Tyson Fury, tentatively scheduled for February. And in a post-fight comment, Wilder says after Fury, he wants an undisputed title fight.
The co-feature bout of the evening saw Leo Santa Cruz secure a world title in yet another weight class, dominating Miguel Flores to get a unanimous decision and claim the WBA (Super) super featherweight championship — and he intends to stay at 130.
The rest of the main card saw WBA (Regular) super bantamweight champion Brandon Figueroa and Julio Ceja brawl it out to a split draw, while Eduardo Ramirez scored a fourth-round finish of Leduan Barthelemy.
Main Card:
WBC heavyweight championship: (c.) Deontay Wilder def. Luis Ortiz via KO (Rd. 7, 2:51)
For the vacant WBA (Super) super featherweight championship: Leo Santa Cruz def. Miguel Flores via unanimous decision (115-112, 117-110, 117-110)
WBA (Regular) super bantamweight championship: Brandon Figueroa vs. Julio Ceja goes to a split draw (115-113, 112-116, 114-114)
Eduardo Ramirez def. Leduan Barthelemy via TKO (Rd. 4, 2:59)
TV Prelims:
Omar Juarez def. Kevin Shacks via KO (Rd. 6, 1:59)
Vito Mielnicki Jr. def. Marklin Bailey via TKO (Rd. 2, 2:31)
Dustin Long def. Marsellos Wilder via KO (Rd. 4, 1:51)
Viktor Slavinskyi def. Rigoberto Hermosillo via unanimous decision (58-56, 59-55, 60-54)