Deontay Wilder Knocks Out Luis Ortiz, Has Tyson Fury Rematch In Mind For February 2020
Second verse, same as the first: Deontay Wilder takes out Luis Ortiz in emphatic fashion.
For weeks, Wilder wanted to prove that he was truly the better boxer between him and Ortiz and knew he only needed one punch to do it. In the main event of a PBC on FOX card from Las Vegas, Wilder found that one punch just seconds remaining in the seventh round. A right hand that pierced Ortiz’s guard and sent him to the canvas ended the bout, giving Wilder his 10th world title defense.
Throughout the fight, neither man could get more than a couple of punches landed per round but Ortiz was finding some success connecting with the left hook, but couldn’t push Wilder to the brink of stopping him like he did in the seventh round of their first fight back in March 2018. It was Wilder who ended things with yet another impressive one-punch knockout.
It's heating up! —
Luis Ortiz lands some big shots in Round 4, the @BronzeBomber beats his chest in response, @kingkongboxing style —
Order #WilderOrtiz2 https://t.co/ytIgB1yxN5 pic.twitter.com/nMe90yYrAW
— FOX Sports: PBC (@PBConFOX) November 24, 2019
When asked about what is next for Wilder, he further confirmed the planned rematch against Tyson Fury, set for February 2020. The fight itself didn’t get officially announced, but both sides had stated early 2020 would be the date. Wilder and Fury had their first fight in December 2018 for the WBC title which ended in a split draw.
The pay-per-view undercard featured a pair of title bouts, one of which ended in a split draw. The first title fight saw Brandon Figueroa, the WBA “Regular” super bantamweight champion, and Julio Ceja engage in a wild back-and-forth contest. One judge had Figueroa winning 115-113, one had Ceja winning 116-112 and a third judge had the fight scored a 114-114 draw. Regardless of the result, Ceja was never going to walk away as the WBA champion due to him being 4.5 pounds over the super bantamweight limit of 122 pounds and was ineligible to win the title. At best, Ceja could only force the title to be vacant with a win over Figueroa.
The other title fight, the evening’s co-feature, saw Leo Santa Cruz become the latest boxer to win a title in four different weight classes with a unanimous decision win over Miguel Flores, capturing the WBA “Super” super featherweight title. Two of the three judges had Santa Cruz winning 117-110 and the third judge had him winning 115-112.
The opening bout of the main card saw Eduardo Ramirez stop Leduan Barthelemy in the fourth round. This fight was originally scheduled to be on the FS2-televised prelims but after the fight between Luis Nery and Emmanuel Rodriguez was canceled due to Nery missing weight, it got bumped up to the main card.
