Unbeaten Cuban heavyweight Luis Ortiz has been forced to pull out of his scheduled April 22 fight with Derric Rossy due to suffering a thumb injury in sparring. Ortiz, 27-0(23) was to have boxed his debut under new promoter Al Haymon, his fight with Rossy an addition to the Shawn Porter-Andre Berto welterweight clash.
According to his team, the 38 year old southpaw was determined to fight on, but doctors advised him not to do so. But while this is bad news for Ortiz (he isn’t getting any younger and needs to stay as active as he can), spare a thought for Rossy. The Ortiz fight, one that looks unlikely to be rescheduled – Ortiz will reportedly now wait to fight the winner of the upcoming Anthony Joshua-Wladimir Klitschko fight – would have given Rossy a massive opportunity to gatecrash the heavyweight elite.