Luis Ortiz is a big man, a big strong man, and a really, really feared man in the heavyweight division, man.
Golden Boy’s publicist revealed to Behind The Gloves.com Wednesday that more than two fighters have rejected offers to fight Luis Ortiz in a March 3 main event at D.C. Armory in Washington D.C.
It was later revealed by ESPN’s Dan Rafael that three of those fighters include the following: Carlos Takam, Andy Ruiz, and Andrey Fedosov.
According to sources, Ruiz could fight on the Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley III undercard in Las Vegas against former heavyweight prospect Ike Ibeabuchi.
It is thought that Fedosov turned down the fight because he requested eight weeks to train and would only receive six if he took the bout, but according to a another source, the Russian just commenced training this past week.
Ortiz was initially scheduled to fight Bryant Jennings on the undercard of Gennady Golovkin-David Lemieux on October 17 at Madison Square Garden. However, it did not work out.
Jennings explained the decision not to fight Ortiz to Tha Boxing Voice.com last August.
“If they don’t meet requirements on our standards, then we just don’t take it.”
But something must have compelled Jennings because he took the fight with Ortiz last December and we learned why there are not very many heavyweights who are willing to take the punches of the lengthy Cuban southpaw.
Ortiz stopped Jennings inside seven rounds, defending his interim WBA World heavyweight belt for the second time, landing thunderous uppercuts and right hands all night, this despite having been sick with the flu all week leading up to the fight.
Just imagine if he was healthy.
It could be a while before we see Ortiz back in the ring against a relevant opponent and overall that is a bad sign for the heavyweight division and boxing.
We will continue to update you on the matter as news comes along.
– Ryan O’Hara / @OHaraSports
– Photo credit / Hogan Photos
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