Deontay Wilder came through his toughest challenge in emphatic fashion as we blew away the undefeated Cuban power puncher Luis Ortiz in ten dramatic rounds at the Barclays Centre, Brooklyn.
Wilder had to show heart and a solid chin as well as a good boxing brain to get past the strong and well schooled Cuban who boxed with confidence behind a forceful southpaw jab.
There was plenty of respect shown to both fighters undoubted power in the early rounds, as they both tried to land jabs from long range, with Ortiz looking to push Wilder onto the back foot.
In the fifth round after good work from Wilder, he detonated his long right hand to drop Ortiz at the very end of the round from which point the phony war ended and the fight came alive.
It was Ortiz who was backing up in the 7th as Wilder opened up and missed to be caught with a right hand counter which shook the champion, and had him desperately looking to hold on, as Ortiz tried to find the punches to end it and become Cuba’s first heavyweight champion in history.
Long live the king…. #BombZquadpic.twitter.com/QW5KrCLA2i
— Deontay Wilder (@BronzeBomber) March 4, 2018
The 38-year-old challenger marched forward throughout the next two rounds as Wilder looked to regain composure behind his long jab. He showed an excellent chin and good recuperative powers for a big man.
The tenth round started and Wilder was now looking to push forward when he landed a big trademark right hand that hurt Ortiz and the hunted became the hunter unleashing hell with both hands for another knockdown. One more charge and a perfect right uppercut to the chin of Ortiz and he was down again with referee David Fields not bothering even with the count.
Wilder making a seventh successful defence of his WBC title took his impressive undefeated record to 40 wins with 39 knockouts and looks to be learning along the way.
This was a tough challenge against a strong, hardened undefeated challenger, and although hurt and troubled by the jab and southpaw style at times, he showed the attributes of a champion, and proved he’s the man to beat in the heavyweight division.
"I'll fight @anthonyfjoshua anywhere in the world. You can put us on Mars, when we colonize that, I'll be ready to fight him there too!" — @BronzeBomber
READ STORY 📰: https://t.co/W29M5jc0P0pic.twitter.com/VnMZ9W1NWW
— Premier Boxing Champions (@premierboxing) March 7, 2018
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