WBC heavyweight champion Deontay ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder and Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz will be fighting their rematch on September 28 on Showtime pay-per-view, according to Mike Coppinger. The unbeaten Wilder (41-0-1, 40 KOs) announced the Ortiz rematch on Tuesday. Wilder says he wants to “right the wrongs” of his first fight against Ortiz last year in March 2018. Wilder stopped the hard punching southpaw Ortiz in the 10th round after dropping him twice.
Is Wilder vs. Ortiz 2 a PPV worthy fight?
It’s going to be interesting to see if the U.S boxing will be willing to purchase the Wilder vs. Ortiz 2 rematch on Showtime PPV. Many of the fans aren’t excited at seeing Wilder fight the 40-year-old Ortiz, because he just recently defeated him last year by a 10th round knockout. Asking fans to pay to see the Wilder-Ortiz rematch might backfire on Wilder. However, Wilder’s riding the crest of his exciting first round knockout win over Dominic Breazeale on May 18th, and he captured a lot of new boxing fans with that win. If those fans want to get their fix in seeing Wilder fight next, they won’t mind too much at having to pay to see him on pay-per-view against the 40-year-old Ortiz.
Anthony Joshua out in the cold
Wilder’s decision to fight Ortiz again leaves IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua stuck on the sidelines without the unification fight that he was hoping to get. Indeed, Joshua (22-0, 21 KOs) has been using this week to talk up a unification fight with Wilder instead of talking about his fight with Andy Ruiz Jr. (34-1, 21 KOs) on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York. Wilder’s fight with Ortiz will likely be the last one for him this year. Wilder is expected to defend his title against Adam Kownacki (19-0, 15 KOs) in early 2020.
If there was any doubt who Wilder would be fighting next, it was made clear when a puffy looking Ortiz stepped into the ring after Wilder’s first round knockout win over Breazeale on May 18th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Ortiz wouldn’t have been allowed into the ring if he wasn’t going to be facing Wilder next. Surprisingly, a lot of boxing fans, including Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn, failed to put two and two together the significance of Ortiz entering the ring after the Wilder-Breazeale fight.
Ortiz will have a tougher time in rematch
Ortiz will need to lose weight if he’s going to give Wilder a tough test on September 28. Ortiz looked out of shape on that night. He’s going to have to trim down if he wants to have a chance of beating Wilder. The way that Wilder looked against Breazeale, he’s going to be looking to bounce his best right hands off Ortiz’s jaw the moment the fight starts. Ortiz showed little ability to take Wilder’s best shots in their previous fight. Each time Wilder sat down on his right hand shots, he had Ortiz in trouble. He knocked Ortiz down in the 5th, hurt him late in the 9th, and then dropped him twice in the 10th to get the knockout.