Fresh off his duller-than-dull points win over a very reluctant and defensive-minded Ryad Merhy, Jared Anderson’s Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum put out a message on social media imploring someone to take the challenge and actually show up believing they can test Anderson in the ring.
Well, veteran Cuban southpaw Luis Ortiz has responded, telling Arum via a social media message of his own to “give Anderson to me.”
Ortiz, officially 45 but some folks feel is, in fact, a fair bit older than that, said in his message that he can “assure it will be a great fight…..and a nightmare for Anderson.”
Ortiz may be old as dirt, and he might have been around seemingly forever, but he can still punch, and he can perhaps still be dangerous. For sure, Ortiz would be expected to actually try to beat Anderson, with Ortiz letting his hands go or at least trying to do so in there.
And we all saw how another veteran in “Prince ” Charles Martin gave Anderson a pretty tough time of things when he fought him, Martin, a lefty like Ortiz, taking “The Real Big Baby” to the final bell in an entertaining battle.
Granted, Martin is not as old as Ortiz, but Anderson is not yet the finished article and maybe Ortiz, as Martin did, can find some holes in Anderson’s game. To repeat, Ortiz can’t do any worse against Anderson than Merhy did.
Ortiz, 34-3(29) holds a win over Martin himself, and he was able to stop the former IBF heavyweight champ the way Anderson wasn’t. If it is Ortiz next for Anderson, it might not prove to be too bad a fight. Again, anything is better than what we saw when Merhy “fought” Anderson.
Ortiz has been in with the best or close to it, in Deontay Wilder and Andy Ruiz, and the old warrior is coming off a January stoppage win. Will Arum accept Ortiz on Anderson’s behalf?