A very cautious looking WBC heavyweight champion Deontay ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder (42-0-1, 41 KOs) retained his title in stopping Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz (31-2, 26 KOs) in the 7th round on Saturday night in their rematch in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ortiz was ahead on all three of the judges’ scorecards by the scores 59-55, 59-55, 58-56.
It’s hard to imagine Wilder being given any rounds in the fight through the first six, because he wasn’t letting his hands go the way he needed to for him to stay in the fight. Wilder, 34 looked afraid to throw anything for fear of being hit with a bit counter from the southpaw Ortiz.
It’s not easy to fight a southpaw to begin win, but Ortiz is even more difficult due to him being a counter puncher as well. On top of that, Ortiz has a lot of power, so Wilder wasn’t willing to take chances that he could get knocked out if he got a little wreckless like last time.
Wilder gave away the first six rounds doing at all, but then in the 7th he landed a pinpoint right hand to the head of Ortiz that flattened him. The fight was halted by Kenny Bayless. Ortiz was too hurt to continue after dropped.
Wilder was losing every minutes of the fight tonight, but his power bailed him out of a tough spot just like in his first fight against the Cuban southpaw Ortiz last year in New York. This time, it only took Wilder 7 rounds instead of 10.
The victory for Wilder gives him his second knockout over the 40-year-old Ortiz, who will have a hard time getting another world title given his age. Nevertheles, Ortiz is expected to get a purse of $7 million, and it could end up more than that with the pay-per-view upside.
Ortiz did a good job of fighting at a controlled pace in rounds 1-6, and not pushing his aging body beyond what it was capable of doing. Wilder made it easy for Ortiz to fight at the slow pace that he needed for him to be successful due to him not throwing meaningful punches. Wilder did try to hit Ortiz with a few big right hands in the first rounds, but he was missing and timng looked off. He ring rusty, and that complicated things for him.
All Results:
Deontay Wilder KO 7 Luis Ortiz
Leo Santa Cruz W PTS 12 Miguel Flores
Brandon Figueroa Draw Julio Ceja
Omar Juarez W KO 6 Kevin Shacks
Eduardo Ramirez TKO 4 Leduan Barthelemy
John Gemino TKO 5 Arnold Alejandro
Vito Mielnicki Jr TKO 2 Marklin Bailey
Dustin Long TKO 4 Marsellos Wilder.
Viktor Slavinskyi UD 6 Rigoberto Hermosillo
Angel Alejandro UD 6 Mark John Yap
José Manuel Gómez TKO 3 Daniel Placeres
