WALK ON THE WILD SIDE
Wilder comes through a Brooklyn brawl with Ortiz to retain his WBC heavyweight crown
THINGS were eerily similar in Deontay Wilder’s
10th-round stoppage of Luis Ortiz at the Barclays Center and Anthony Joshua’s victory over Wladimir Klitschko last year. Both Wilder and Joshua dropped their opponents in the fifth and looked booked for a decisive win, but then were rocked, badly hurt and on the verge of being stopped themselves. Eventually, both regrouped from the brink of disaster before prevailing in sensational fashion late on, scoring two knockdowns in the defining round. If that and unifying the four world heavyweight titles is not a compelling reason why they should meet if Joshua defeats Joseph Parker as expected later this month, then consider that even the most ardent of supporters in both men’s camps would have to admit that their potential rival poses by far the biggest threat to the other.
Fortunes can turn rapidly inside the ring. In the third round, some of the 14,069 in attendance were booing Ortiz
SOME FANS BOOED EARLY ON BUT LATER WERE ON THE EDGE OF THEIR SEATS
and Wilder for what they perceived as a lack of action - but a couple of rounds later they were on the edge of their seats in what turned out to be a Fight of the Year candidate.
Both showed healthy respect for the other’s power over the first four rounds, neither willing to take risks, hoping to capitalise on mistakes instead. Wilder, making the seventh defence of his WBC heavyweight title, would rush in now and then, but Ortiz would counter and force him to reset. If there was a minor surprise it would be that southpaw Ortiz’s jab was more effective than Wilder’s.
The first decisive moment came late ➤
➤ in the fifth when Wilder unleashed his trademark right. Ortiz stumbled, but before he could regroup the man from Tuscaloosa, Alabama pounced and landed another big right, sending Ortiz backwards to the bottom rope. Ortiz got up immediately and did not seem badly hurt, but in any event the bell rang, depriving Wilder the opportunity to follow up.
The men started to exchange more freely in the sixth and onto the seventh when, with 40 seconds left, the Miamibased Cuban challenger broke through. A right hook hurt Wilder, who held tightly. Ortiz though forced himself free and pummelled Wilder with flush power shots. Wilder was unable to escape the ropes as Ortiz punched away furiously. It was here where referee David Fields’ importance to this contest cannot be stated strongly enough. With Wilder in deep trouble and on the verge of being defenceless, other referees might have stopped the fight. Fields though gave Deontay every reasonable opportunity to survive, which he barely did, being drilled with one last massive right before time ran out. “I almost had him and I think I would have if there were a few more seconds left in the round,” pondered Ortiz at the post-fight presser.
When the bell rang to start the eighth there was inexplicably a delay lasting close to 10 seconds in which the ringside physician was called to check on Wilder. The additional time probably was inconsequential because the champion looked like he had recovered, but it nevertheless was unfair to Ortiz.
Ortiz came out fast in the eighth. He attacked all round, placing some good blows to the body. Wilder moved away, electing to concentrate on defence. Hard looping blows to the chin would sometimes get through, having Wilder shaking his head in a gesture of showmanship that he was not hurt.
When Ortiz’s whirlwind attack in the seventh and eighth rounds failed to dispose of Wilder, fatigue started to set in. It was now Wilder’s turn to go back on the offensive. Late in the ninth a pair of big overhand rights shook Ortiz.
Going into the 10th round, judges Glenn Feldman, Kevin Morgan and Carlos Ortiz Jnr all had Wilder up 85-84, scores that were totally acceptable despite the mild controversy they caused by those who felt the challenger was winning.
It was a thrilling finish which reminded us again that there is nothing to compare to a great heavyweight fight. The men stood their ground at ring centre, exchanging punches, both putting themselves in the danger zone in pursuit of victory. But at this stage, Wilder, who had taken Ortiz’s best blows, was a little stronger, fresher, and crisper. Wilder, who is arguably the hardest puncher since Mike Tyson ruled the division, nailed Ortiz with a counter right. Ortiz tried to hold, but was thrown down, Fields ruling it a slip. Ortiz got up slowly, looking
extremely weary for the first time. Ortiz had no answer for the onslaught that followed. Big hooks from both hands dropped him for a nine-count. Wilder then finished it in devastating fashion, taking a nifty side step and unleashing a right uppercut that dropped Ortiz in a heap. There was no need to count; the time was 2-05.
“I want to unify the titles,” said Wilder when it was over. “This is a fight I took with great risk so that I could prove to the world that I’m the best.” Now it remains to be seen if Joshua is willing to risk it all against Wilder.
There might be more to this story after we go to press, but Jose Uzcategui’s fight against Andre Dirrell was delayed for close to 30 minutes when his urine came up red in the dressing room. Ultimately he was cleared, hopefully for all the right reasons.
Dirrell is enormously talented, but his resolve has always been in question and was again lacking in this rematch against Tijuana-based Uzcategui; Dirrell had won controversially by disqualification in May last year.
Uzcategui was in superb shape this time around and was off his stool for good periods of time between rounds. He kept pressing forward and took Dirrell’s heart away.
Dirrell, from Flint, Michigan, boxed from long range and threw a ton of jabs which kept him in the contest. He would also score with a good counter now and then, but Uzcategui remained on task. Although you could make an argument that most of the rounds were close, Dirrell’s corner had no illusions. They informed him before the eighth that he would need a knockout to win. Dirrell then changed his tactics and switched from southpaw and stayed in the pocket, where he traded blows. As a result, Dirrell started getting hit more in this round than he was in the entire fight.
When the bell rang to start the ninth, Dirrell gestured to his corner he would not continue, but then pretended he wanted to after it was officially stopped at two seconds of the round. Tony Paolillo (79-73), Bernard Bruni (7874) and (Robin Taylor) 77-75 all had Uzcategui up at the conclusion. Ricky Gonzalez officiated.
Less than six months ago, Willie Monroe Jnr was facing Billy Joe Saunders for a world middleweight title, but on this night he was boxing in a near-empty arena in one of the walkout bouts. Nevertheless, the man from Rochester, NY did what he had to in dropping Colombian Carlos Galvan with a straight left in the sixth and outboxing him the whole way to win the eight-rounder 80-71 on all cards. Shada Murdaugh refereed.
In a spirited 10-twos contest in which neither went down, New Yorker Alicea Napoleon won the vacant WBA female super-middleweight championship, unanimously outscoring Belgium’s
Femke Hermans by scores of 99-91 (Don Trella), and 98-92 twice ( John Poturaj and Ron Mcnair). Hermans showed good recuperative powers after being hurt in the eighth.
Long Islander Patrick Day overcame a sluggish start to triumph by unanimous 10-round decision over Delaware’s
Kyrone Davis. It was scored 98-92, 97-93 and 96-94. Davis’ hard left hooks made him a threat but Day boxed very smartly, moving in and out. Ron Lipton was the referee.
THE VERDICT Wilder stakes his claim to being the world’s best big man after coming through a fantastic fight.