The last time we saw heavyweight contender Luis Ortiz in the ring was back in March when he was stopped in the 10th round by WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder. However, this was a fight that was there for the taking. Ortiz had Wilder in serious trouble in round 7, but Wilder was able to stay upright and survive the round.
For Ortiz, the Wilder fight taught him a lot of things:
“I learned that I need to train even harder, fight harder, throw more and connect more. If I hadn’t been fatigued, I’d still be punching him(Wilder) today,” Ortiz said on Thursday. “I threw the clock away at the gym. We’re going to be smarter going forward.”
Now, Ortiz(28-1, 24 KOs) is back as he will battle Razvan Cojanu(16-3, 9 KOs) on Saturday night at Staples Center on the Mikey Garcia- Robert Easter Jr. undercard(SHOWTIME(10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT).
“My hunger and motivation to become world champion has not changed at all,” Ortiz said. “My opponent is very big, but in the ring, everyone is the same size. We’re going to be smart, and I’m going to do my job on Saturday night.”
The 39-year-old Cuban is finally at the point where he is over the Wilder loss. However, his ultimate goal is to get a rematch with Wilder:
“The Wilder fight is what it is. It’s the past now, and I don’t regret it,” Ortiz said. “At the end of the day I want the rematch, and I believe I deserve the rematch. They’re still running from me, and they’re obviously running from Wilder, but I’m running from no one.
“A victory on Saturday night will put me back in line for the rematch with Deontay Wilder.”