Saturday’s Special Edition of Boxing After Dark begins live at 4:00 p.m. ET/PT from Monte Carlo. The special from Salle des Etoiles in Monte Carlo features a heavyweight showdown between knockout machine Luis Ortiz taking on Malik Scott.
*There will be an evening replay at 11:00 p.m. (ET/PT).
IBF heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua insists he is fully focused on his upcoming December 10 challenger Eric Molina, but the 17-0(17) star is also looking towards the future. Joshua makes the second defence of his belt against the dangerously determined Molina, and AJ is already planning his third and fourth defences.
As fans know, the word is that Joshua, if he’s victorious against Molina, will engage in his very first super-fight next spring against former king Wladimir Klitschko.
“Ruiz has the fastest hands since Ali,” Hughie Fury ready to “take all these champions,” Scott is “a Bentley who can outbox Ortiz”
Today’s heavyweight division may be plenty muddled as far as the man on the street knowing who the world champion is goes (we could soon have as many as six champs, all of them holding a belt of some kind) – but there is no shortage of action.
Promoter Eddie Hearn has gone into more detail regarding his plans for unbeaten heavyweight Luis Ortiz, who he recently signed to his ever growing Matchroom stable, and as he explained to Sky Sports, Ortiz could fight IBF heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua next year some time.
Hearn said that, assuming the Cuban southpaw gets past Malik Scott in Monaco next month in what will be Ortiz’ debut under the Matchroom banner, he will then box a TBA on the under-card of Joshua’s next fight (both exact date and opponent still to be confirmed, but likely for December) and then, next year, Ortiz will fight again in the US; again against TBA.
World ranked heavyweight contender MALIK SCOTT, (38-2-1, 13 KO’s), is headed to the world’s foremost tourist destination, Monte Carlo, on Saturday, November 12 to face feared, undefeated and #1 ranked “King Kong” LUIS ORTIZ, (25-0, 22 KO’s) at the Salle des Etoiles for the vacant World Boxing Association Inter-Continental Heavyweight Title.
“This is the fight I wanted, I picked him, “said Scott. “I told my promoter Tom Brown one of the three, either Anthony Joshua, David Haye or Luis Ortiz.”
As fans have no doubt read, unbeaten and avoided heavyweight Luis Ortiz has recently signed to UK Matchroom Promotions, having severed ties with Golden Boy earlier in the year and, for a time, being left on the sidelines, with nothing like a big fight in sight. Now, with Eddie Hearn looking to keep the Cuban southpaw busy, the 37-year-old’s chances of realizing his potential before it’s too late look a whole lot better.
Ortiz, 25-0(22) and inactive since March when he stopped and likely retired Tony Thompson, will have his first fight under the Matchroom banner on November 11 in Monaco, when he will face experienced long-time contender Malik Scott on a stacked card. Then, if he comes though okay against Scott – who, in his own most recent fight, defeated Thompson, defeating him last October – Ortiz is scheduled to fight again, against a TBA, in Manchester (in what will be Ortiz’ UK debut) on December 10.
Matchroom Boxing and the Casino de Monte-Carlo are delighted to announce a blockbuster night of World championship boxing on November 12 at Salle des Etoiles, Sporting Monte-Carlo in ‘Monte-Carlo Boxing Bonanza’ live on Sky Sports.
One of the world’s most dangerous and exciting Heavyweights, Luis Ortiz, tops the bill as he looks to add to his 22 KOs from 25 wins as he takes on Malik Scott for the WBA Inter-Continental title – with Ortiz making his European debut in his first fight since teaming up with Matchroom Boxing.
Just how good is unbeaten Cuban heavyweight Luis Ortiz? We don’t know, and why? – because the hard-hitting and skilled southpaw just cannot seem to get himself a fight. This far in his pro career, the reigning WBA titlist has looked good, maybe even very good; and he could perhaps have the stuff inside him needed to become a great. But the clock is ticking on the man who is on the wrong side of 35 and the big, testing fights continue to elude him.
Next up for Ortiz, supposedly, is (or was) a mandatory defence against Alexander Ustinov. This fight has been in the works for months now (it seems longer) and the last we heard was the fight would likely go ahead on the under-card of the Canelo-Smith card of September 17th. However, according to Eric Gomez of Golden Boy, who spoke with RingTV.com, the ongoing talks have “hit a snag.” The fight, part of the WBA’s tournament to crown just one fighter as the organisation’s heavyweight ruler, has to happen, but Gomez says it’s not looking good.
With his intriguing, arguably career-toughest fight with Alexander Povetkin having fallen apart due to well-documented reasons seemingly everyone is aware of, WBC heavyweight king Deontay Wilder moves on – but to what fight? Wilder wasted a lot of time and money setting up two camps for the Russian test/mandatory defence, and it’s likely he isn’t in the best of moods right about now as a result of getting absolutely zero for his efforts. This could be bad news for “The Bronze Bomber’s” next foe, whoever it may be.
The intriguing heavyweight match-up of Luis Ortiz-Alexander Ustinov will now go to purse bids, as no deal has been reached by the two parties. Ortiz of Cuba, the WBA interim champion, must fight Russia’s Ustinov next as part of the WBA’s plans to see just one man crowned as their heavyweight king. The purse bids have been called for for May 19th.