Parker next for Wilder after Ortiz
Deontay Wilder showed true champion instincts to retain his WBC world heavyweight title and then offered Joseph Parker huge encouragement as the outspoken American continued to talk up his role in the unification equation.
Rocked by giant Cuban Luis Ortiz in the seventh round, Wilder recovered to find his range and demolish his challenger with a TKO two minutes and five seconds into the 10th round.
He had earlier put Ortiz on the canvas in the fifth round before having his own problems. But Wilder’s finishing work was genuinely impressive – combinations of his trademark straight rights and left hooks had Ortiz down twice in the 10th round with the decisive blow coming with a vicious right uppercut that forced the referee to intervene.
A jubilant Wilder immediately turned his attention to Parker’s fight with Anthony Joshua in Cardiff on April 1 (NZT) where the Kiwi puts his WBO belt on the line and the big Brit puts his IBF and WBA titles up as the division works towards one champion.
‘‘I’m ready right now ... my goal is to unify,’’ Wilder said when asked about fighting the winner of Parker v Joshua.
When asked if he felt Parker had a chance, Wilder declared: ‘‘Parker has a 100 per cent chance of winning.
‘‘He has to be smart and stick to the game plan. In this ring it’s not about how much a person weighs, or about how big a person’s muscles is, it’s about heart, that dog that he’s going to bring to the fight. The mind is powerful ... speak it, believe it, receive it.’’
Wilder felt that was his recipe for taking his record to 40-0 with 39 KOs by finishing off the previously unbeaten Ortiz. ‘‘True champions always find a way to come back and that’s what I did,’’ Wilder said of getting past his mid-fight wobbles where he was clearly hanging on.
‘‘I showed I can take a punch. They weren’t hard, they didn’t have sting but the knocked me off balance,’’ he said of Ortiz’s combinations.
He also felt he had shown a new piece of armoury with the bigswinging 32-year-old relishing some close-quarter combat with Ortiz.
‘‘I showed that I can punch on the inside as well,’’ he said. ‘‘I am the most dangerous man in the world, I am the baddest man on the planet. And I proved that tonight. This solidifies my position at the top of the foodchain. Soon there will be one champion, one face, one name, and he goes by the name of Deontay Wilder.’’
Wilder also felt the performance would silence some critics who have questioned the calibre of his long list of opponents. ‘‘This was a signature win against a Luis Ortiz who everyone in the division has ducked. Luis Ortiz is definitely a crafty guy, we already knew he had the fundamental skills, and he put up a great fight.
‘‘We knew we had to wear him down and he was a great opponent. When he leaves tonight he ain’t got nothing to worry about. He can hold his head up high. We gave our fans their money’s worth.’’
Ortiz will lament his inability to finish Wilder, whose looked to be virtually out on his feet before the bell to end the seventh round sounded. A frustrated Ortiz couldn’t push his cause in the eighth round and Wilder consolidated is energy before finally starting to find his range with his his strong jab.
Still, Ortiz showed good allround skills and dominated much of the fight, controlling the rhythm and flow while racking up regular points, giving the feel that Wilder might need a knockout.