WBC heavyweight champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder (38-0, 37 KOs) will be looking to make a statement against Cuban Luis “King Kong” Ortiz (27-0, 23 KOs) on November 4 to send a message to IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (19-0, 19 KOs0 that he’s for real, and that he’s coming for him in the near future.
Wilder and Ortiz will be battling on Showtime Championship Boxing on November 4 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. This is a make or break fight for Wilder. He’s seen as a paper champion by a large segment of the boxing community. This is Wilder’s chance to show that he’s a real champion.
With Joshua having recently beaten former undisputed heavyweight world champion Wladimir Klitschko on April 29, it’s Wilder’s turn to make a big statement of his own when he defends his World Boxing Council heavyweight title against the unbeaten 38-year-old Ortiz. Wilder hasn’t won too many boxing fans since he captured the WBC title due to him taking it easy in defending his WBC title 5 times against weak opposition in voluntary defenses against Eric Molina, Artur Szpilka, Johann Duhaupas, Chris Arreola and Gerald Washington.
With Wilder choosing to defend against the 38-year-old Cuban Ortiz, it shows that he’s broken away from the safe match-making that he’s had done for him in the past. Wilder is now willing to take some real risks with his career. It would seem likely that Wilder is the one that wanted to take the fight with Ortiz rather than his promoters wanting that fight for him.
”I get that mentality but he needs to up his game against Ortiz, if he wants to become a real superstar,” said former cruiserweight world champion Johnny Nelson to skysports.com. “Boxing stars stay safe, boxing superstars take chances. I am sure Wilder realized that when he was ringside for Anthony Joshua taking on Wladimir Klitschko.”
Seeing how the victory for Joshua over Klitschko took his career to the next level, it looks like Wilder wants to get in on the action and take his own career to the next level with a win over Ortiz. As good as Klitschko once was, he wasn’t the same fighter that he’d been in the past by the time he fought Joshua.
Ortiz is likely fighting at a higher level right now than Klitschko. If Wilder can beat Ortiz, he would show the boxing fans how good he is. It would also help him prepare for Joshua, who may be at the same level as Ortiz. Beating Ortiz would be a huge win for the 6’7” Wilder, as he could be the underdog in that fight.
Wilder has looked very raw and shaky in his fights. He hasn’t looked improved in since he became the WBC champion 2 years ago in beating Bermane Stiverne by a 12 round unanimous decision. Wilder looked unimpressive in his wins over Washington, Molina and Szpilka. The only fights Wilder shined in was against Duhaupas and Arreola; neither of those fighters deserved a world title shot.
“For Wilder to take him, you’ve got to rate him. Ortiz is dangerous, regardless of what we saw from him against Malik Scott in Monte Carlo,” said Nelson. “The ‘Bronze Bomber’ really needs a defining fight. I think he has leveled off since winning the WBC title from Bermane Stiverne. People forget this will be his sixth defense but every time I’ve seen him, he seems to be playing safe.”
If Wilder can’t beat Ortiz at this point in his career, then he probably never will be able to beat a talent like this. Wilder is nearing 32, and he’s probably as good as he ever will be. If Wilder still isn’t the finished product at his present age, then he’s never going to be good enough to beat the upper level guys.