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For six rounds, not much happened between Deontay Wilder and Luis Ortiz in tonight’s rematch. Ortiz led on our scorecard, 59-55, and you could have argued him having won all six. He was doing the better work, even if he wasn’t doing anything particularly amazing or eye-catching.
In short, Deontay Wilder waited, and waited, and waited, and then he saw his opening in round seven. One right hand later, and it was over; despite his best effort, Luis Ortiz couldn’t beat the count of referee Kenny Bayless, and Wilder claimed another knockout victim.
Wilder (42-0-1, 41 KO) stopped Ortiz (31-2, 26 KO) at 2:51 of the seventh round, retaining the WBC heavyweight title once more in his 10th defense.
Describing the action of the fight is a little difficult, because there simply wasn’t much going on. Ortiz took some rounds, sure, but Wilder maintained the confidence that sooner or later, he was going to find the target. And he did.
“With Ortiz, you can see why no other heavyweight wants to fight him,” Wilder said. “He’s very crafty in the ring, he moves strategically, and his intellect is very high. I had to measure him. My intellect is very high in the ring, although I don’t get no credit for it. Ortiz is one of the best in the world, you gotta give him that. That’s why I gave him the second opportunity.”
Asked what he wants next, Wilder said, “Next, of course we have Tyson Fury next. It’s set to be done in February, so we’ll see how that goes. Then after that, I’m looking for a unification. I want one champion, one face, one name, and he goes by the name of Deontay Wilder. The heavyweight division is too small to have all these titles floating around. It’s too confusing for the fans. I think I’m the perfect man for the job.”
“I told everybody it was either going to be him or me, and that it wasn’t going to go 12 rounds,” Ortiz said through a translator. “I’m ready for whatever comes next.”