Immediately following his knockout loss to Deontay Wilder in their rematch, Luis Ortiz appeared at the post-fight press conference to share some of his thoughts on the fight, mostly translated and expanded upon by his trainer. Check out some excerpts below...
Ortiz on his thoughts on the way his fight with Wilder ended:
“It’s exactly what I said would happen, him or me,” Ortiz said through his trainer. “I feel good, I gave it my all, boxing is like that.”
On if he felt he hurt Wilder in the sixth round:
“The game plan was to back him up, get behind some combinations and try to set him up for the shot, not just try to hit the homerun. I’m not sure if he was or wasn’t [hurt], I was just working, working, working, and trying to get the job done. Everyone saw it.”
On if he was surprised that Wilder didn’t throw many punches and how he thinks Wilder will fare in a rematch against Tyson Fury:
“Fury and myself are two different fighters. I don’t think Wilder will respect Fury and will get a good win.”
On how his conditioning felt in this fight and if he believes he could’ve made it the distance fighting at the pace he set for himself:
“Everyone saw it, I was physically, mentally, and emotionally prepared...My only gripe is that the referee should’ve given me an opportunity...the referee probably could’ve let it go on, it was eight seconds left, seven seconds left — see what happens, recover in the corner, give me the benefit of the doubt. I’m disappointed that didn’t happen.”
On where he wants to go from here in his career if he can’t get any of the other titleholders to face him and if he’ll consider retirement:
“Retirement? No. I’m going to take out my frustration on a few other heavyweights so you’ll see exactly how I feel.”
Check out more of what Ortiz and his trainer had to say about their game plan heading into the fight and how everything came unraveled in an instant in the video above.