It took Deontay Wilder until round seven to get his offense cranked up, but once he got it started, he smashed Luis Ortiz in knocking him out with a perfectly thrown right hand. WBC heavyweight champion Wilder (42-0-1, 41 KOs) made sure the judges didn’t get a chance to score fight fight, which is a good thing for him, because he was behind.
All three judges had Wilder trailing Ortiz (31-2, 26 KOs) at the time of the stoppage.
The fight didn’t have a lot of punches that landed for either guy, and the action wasn’t constant like the first fight between Wilder and Ortiz in 2018. The crowd booed off and on tonight, letting both fighters know that they didn’t appreciate their cautious style of fighting.
You can’t blame Ortiz for not being active enough, because he’s a counter punch. His game is based on countering the better fighters he faces.
Wilder’s right hand would have stopped anybody
There was only 9 seconds left in the 7th round when the 6’7″ Wilder threw a right hand that mowed the 40-year-old Ortiz down. The way that Wilder threw the shot was so effortless. It was as if he was throwing a jab, but the punch was a lot more powerful than that. When the shot hit Ortiz in the head, it bowled him over like a bowling pin.
The win for Wilder kept his perfect record intact, and kept his on course to face lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (29-0-1 20 KOs) on February 22 next year in Las Vegas. That’s a fight that will make Wilder a lot of money, as well as Fury. The two fought each other last December, and it ended in a controversial draw.
It’s surprising that Ortiz was able to make Wilder miss with his right hand for most of the fight. If flat-footed fighter like Ortiz was able to make Wilder miss and limit him to a pitiful 9% connect rate, then you can only imagine what Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz Jr. will do.
Wilder has one of the biggest punches in the history of boxing, but it’s not going to help him if he can’t land it. Ortiz took Wilder’s right hand away from him tonight for six rounds, and had him reduced to throwing jabs and left hooks. Wilder doesn’t pack a punch with those shots, and he doesn’t consistently use his jab.
This was a fight where Wilder needed to show the boxing world that he’s an improved fighter from his 12 round draw he got against Fury. Tonight, Wilder didn’t look improved. He looked to be just as flawed as he did against Fury.
Wilder vs. Ortiz punch stats
Wilder connected on 34 of 84 punches for a connect percentage of 9%, per CompuBox. Ortiz landed 35 of 179 shots for a 20% connect rate. In looking at those numbers, it’s clear that Ortiz was the MUCH more active fighter of the two. Not only that, Ortiz also connected with a higher perecentage. Wilder’s 9% connect percentage is terribly poor for a world champion.
It’s not that Ortiz was using a lot of head and body movement to make it difficult for Wilder to find his target. Wilder’s accuracy was simply poor because his hand-eye coordination wasn’t as good as it should have been for him to have an easier time in this fight. It’s going to need to improve for Wilder to have a chance of beating Fury in their rematch last February, because he’s a fighter that uses a lot of movement.
Ortiz made Wilder look bad
Wilder was at SERIOUS risk of losing this fight. He may not want to admit it, but he was on his way to losing the fight. If Ortiz hadn’t gotten sloppy in the 7th, Wilder might have gone on to lose the fight. We’ll never know though, because Ortiz DID get sloppy, and left himself wide open for a perfectly placed right hand by Wilder.
Ortiz didn’t make a fuss about the quick stoppage by referee Kenny Bayless, because he likely realized that he would have destroyed if the fight had continued. It was all Ortiz could do to get back on his feet. When he did get upright, he looked stunned, and not in a position to defend himself.
The end result of the fight being allowed to continue would have seen Wilder unload with one of his right hands that might have seriously hurt Ortiz. Bayless did Ortiz a big favor in stopping it when he did. It would have been unfair if Wilder was able to hit Ortiz while he was in that condition.
Deontay relies too much on right hand
Wilder, 34, lacked the other punches in his arsenal to rely on in rounds 1-6 when he was having problems landing his right. Ortiz was watching for Wilder’s right hand all night long, and making sure he moved just enough or got his gloves up to block the shots when he would throw him.
If Wilder had a good left hand like former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis, he could have used that. Wilder didn’t have that in his arsenal, and his jab was weak and not powerful enough for him to use it to fend Ortiz off.
The ONLY thing Wilder had was his right hand, and it took him 7 rounds to finally land it cleanly. Wilder probably won’t continue to win for too much longer if he’s got to rely on just his right hand all the time
This fight showed that Wilder needs a new trainer or an additional coach to help him develop other weapons to use besides his right hand. Lewis would be a great second coach for Wilder, because he has the size to teach him how to use his left. Tonight, Wilder was able to eventually land his right hand cleanly in the 7th to get Ortiz out of there, but he might not be so lucky in his rematch with Fury next February.
Fury couldn’t handle Wilder’s power
Wilder knocked Fury down twice last December, but he couldn’t keep him down. Fury out-boxed Wilder in the 10 of the 12 rounds. The only reason Fury didn’t win is because of the knockdowns. If Wilder had a good left hand, he would have made it difficult for Fury to key on his right all night.
