Luis ‘The Real King Kong’ Ortiz is a big, powerful, awkward southpaw who presents a huge risk to any heavyweight. Unfortunately, the world’s top heavyweights are well aware of the risk and see little reward for taking on the gamble.
After a desperate search to find an opponent willing to face him, this weekend undefeated Cuban heavyweight Luis Ortiz will square off with the veteran American Tony Thompson.
Initially Ortiz had looked set to face Alexander Ustinov as part of the restructuring of the WBA titles. Under the WBA structure Ortiz holds the Interim Title and was mandated to face Alexander Ustinov.
As part of recognising just one WBA heavyweight champion a tournament is being created with two half’s. The first will see Ortiz face Ustinov with the winner taking on the winner of the Klitschko versus Fury fight. The winner of that respective fight would then go on to face the winner of the other half of the tournament.
On the other side of the tournament there is Ruslan Chagaev versus Lucas Browne with the winner going on to battle Fres Oquendo. The winner would then face the winner of the first half of the tournament.
With the Ustinov fight having failed to materialise Ortiz will take on Thompson without the Interim belt being on the line. This means that even if Thompson wins he will not claim the belt or be involved in the tournament.
Aged 36, Ortiz holds an impressive 24-0 professional record containing 21 wins by way of knockout but also two no contest bouts having tested positive for performance enhancing drugs previously in his career.
Like many of his Cuban compatriots who make the decision to leave Cuba in search of a professional boxing career, Ortiz struggles to generate a large fanbase.
Despite being an unbeaten, heavy hitting heavyweight he has gone under the radar until recent times. Many within the sport have been aware of his credentials but few outside of the sport have heard of him before.
Thankfully with the power of promotional outfit GoldenBoy Promotions, Ortiz was given the opportunity to make a real name for himself against world title challenger Bryant Jennings late last year. Jennings had impressed against Klitschko in his previous outing and presented a big name for Ortiz to compete with.
Ortiz’s amateur pedigree was crucial in the fight as he controlled the pace and dictated the style of fight to best suit him. The fight ended in the seventh round with Jennings having been floored and struggling to cope with the onslaught from the Cuban.
This was a hugely impressive win that has sent a clear message throughout the heavyweight division that Luis ‘The Real King Kong’ Ortiz is a man on a mission.
Tony Thompson, aged 44, is an extremely experienced campaigner with 40-6 professional record with two world title bouts under his belt.
He is also a tall, hard hitting southpaw who has failed drug tests during his career. He is however less technically skilled than Ortiz and knows how it feels to lose as a professional.
In recent times Thompson has taken on all comers with names like Klitschko, Price, Pulev, Solis, Takam and Scott all present on his record since 2012. He has walked away from such fights with four wins and four losses.
Thompson is a solid world level fighter who defeats those who aren’t truly world class but ultimately gets beaten by the division’s top fighters.
Ortiz will be the big favourite against Thompson and rightly so. He is the superior fighter from a technical standpoint and is the bigger puncher. He is expected to defeat Thompson and look impressive in doing so.
To underestimate Thompson could be a fatal error though. He is not a fighter to be taken lightly and he is used to turning up and causing a shock. He often takes fight with short notice and has made a successful career out of being the opponent.
Provided that Ortiz is fully concentrated on the task in hand he should be victorious this weekend and once more he will be looking to send out a big message to the heavyweight contenders.
– Samuel Constantinou-Coulter / @samsboxinghaven
Leave a Reply