In terrible news, it has been confirmed by multiple sources that heavyweight Luis Ortiz has testesd positive for a banned substance in a pre-fight drugs test that was conducted by VADA a week ago. Ortiz was of course to have challenged WBC heavyweight king Deontay Wilder on November4; this fight is now off.
It remains to be seen whether or not Wilder, unbeaten at 38-0 will still fight on the November date (some people have suggested he may fight former foe Bermane Stiverne in a return; Stiverne being the fighter who took step-aside money to allow Wilder to face Ortiz instead – but this is nothing more than speculation at this point in time).
What we do know is this: Deontay Wilder must be just about the unluckiest fighter around today. Ahead of last year’s big fight between Wilder and Alexander Povetkin in Russia, Povetkin also tested positive for a banned substance, thus costing Wilder and his team a considerable amount of time and money. Now, ahead of what many were calling Wilder’s toughest test, the WBC champ sees yet another big fight/pay day fall apart.
Ortiz has of course failed a similar drugs test before – Wilder even telling Ortiz, ahead of the now-scrapped fight, not to “f**k it up” by failing another test – and his reputation and entire career now appear to be on incredibly shaky ground.
Recently, the sport really has seen major problems in the area of failed drugs tests; with name fighters, a number of them being heavyweights, failing tests either before or after a fight. Tyson Fury awaits the chance to clear his name, while both Shannon Briggs and Lucas Browne recently received a ton of bad press for coming up positive for a banned substance.
Who knows what can be done to try and combat this serious issue?
For now, as disappointed as we fight fans all are over losing out on what would almost certainly have been a great and thrilling heavyweight battle, it’s impossible not to feel bad for “The Bronze Bomber;” a fighter who seemingly cannot catch a break.
Wilder has not fought since February and his exciting and potentially great career is suffering through absolutely no fault of his own.
Today’s news, which was broken by WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman, would have shocked us a few years back. Now, however, such news is, unfortunately, commonplace.
