The heavyweight division is great again! In a fight that turned into a dramatic back and forth war Deontay Wilder emerged victorious after being pushed to the brink by a sharp and dangerous Luis Ortiz. The fight started at a methodic pace with both fighters being very wary of the others power. Ortiz had a better start through the first 4 rounds, working well behind his jab and landing left hands to the body and head. Wilder had brief moments of success but he was getting picked apart by Ortiz’s jab and seemed tight and hesitated to throw anything big. Ortiz looked very comfortable and was dictating the range and pace of the fight. I honestly did not expect this performance from Ortiz and I admit some of that opinion was based on resentment over his failed drug test that led to their original date being cancelled. Ortiz on my card was winning the fight easily after the first 4 rounds.
All that changed at the end round 5 when Wilder’s power came into play and he caught Ortiz with a right hand high on the head beginning a combo leading to a knockdown. Ortiz would answer back in round 7 by almost stopping Wilder on his feet in the final 45 seconds of the round. Deontay did just enough to hold on and not give the ref a reason to stop the fight and was saved by the bell. Ortiz came out looking for the finish in round 8 and it looked like Wilder was still hurt from the last round. Yet again though Wilder dug deep and proved he had tremendous heart by surviving a surging Ortiz. Round 9 began with Ortiz picking up wher he left off in rounds 7-8 but Wilder came alive near the end of the round and shook Luis up with several big right hands.
Round 10 was fairly even until the last minute at which point the power of Wilder broke through and he put Ortiz down twice. The fight was waved off after the second knock down giving Wilder the best win of his career so far. Surviving his toughest test to date Wilder sits only behind Joshua in the world heavyweight rankings. Joshua vs Wilder is the next super fight to be made and would pit the two undeafted top ranked heavyweight knockout kings against each other. Wilder has stated that he is looking to face Joshua next but it seems unlikely to happen this year. Who would you favor in that fight?
