Luis Ortiz (Cuban boxer)

Luis Ortiz (born March 29, 1979) is a Cuban professional boxer. He is a former WBA interim heavyweight champion, having held the title from 2015 to 2016. He originally won the title in 2014, but this first reign was nullified via no contest when he was stripped of the title due to failing a drug test. As an amateur, Ortiz won a silver medal at the 2005 Boxing World Cup. Nicknamed "The Real King Kong", he is known for his size, punching power and counterpunching skills.

With a reported 343-19 amateur record, Ortiz was a long-time member of the Cuban National Team without succeeding at the top international level. In 2006 Ortiz won the Cuban National "Playa Giron" at 91 kg. He holds amateur wins over many notable Cuban fighters including Mike Perez. He lost five times to Odlanier Solis.

Cuban Championships medals:

• 2002 - Silver medal 95 kg
• 2003 - Bronze medal 91+ kg
• 2005 - Silver medal 91 kg
• 2006 - Gold medal 91 kg
• 2008 - White Ribbon 91+ kg

International results:

• 2005 - Panamerican Championships, Brazil - Gold medal 91 kg
• 2005 - World Cup (Team Competition), Russia - Silver medal 91 kg
• 2005 - World Championships, China - Quarter-finalist

He trains with Dino Spencer at the World Famous 5th Street Gym in Miami Beach. He lives in Miami.

Early career

A 30 year old Ortiz made his debut on February 16, 2010 against American boxer Lamar Davis (4-1, 1 KO) in a scheduled 4 round bout at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Ortiz won the fight via TKO after just under 80 seconds of round 1. Ortiz fought again at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino for his 2nd professional fight on June 15 against 39 year old Charles Davis. Ortiz won via TKO in round 4. In his 3rd pro fight, Ortiz claimed the vacant WBC FECARBOX heavyweight title against 28 year old Kendrick Releford (22-13-2, (10 KOs) on August 24, 2010. Releford was knocked down once in round 2, as Ortiz won the fight via 8 round unanimous decision (80-72, 79-72, 79-72). Ortiz won his next 2 bouts via 8 round stoppage against Zack Page and Francisco Alvarez (12-1, 10 KO) improving his record to 5 wins in as many fights, with 4 coming within the distance. Ortiz fought at the Double Tree Westshore Hotel in Tampa, Florida on January 28, 2011 against Ruben Rivera (3-5, 1 KO). Rivera was deducted 2 points in round 4 and then disqualified in round 5 for repeated low blows.

2011–14

Ortiz fought twice in April, first defeating Jerry Butler via 3rd round TKO and then knocking out former world title challenger Bert Cooper (38-22, 31 KOs) within 2 rounds. Ortiz then fought 27 year old Corey Winfield (4-7, 2 KOs) in May at the Rec Center in Wilson, North Carolina. Ortiz won the bout via knockout in round 3. Ortiz fought at the A La Carte Event Pavilion in Tampa, Florida on June 3 against 36 year old Jason Barnett (12-13, 6 KOs), winning the bout via 1st round TKO, knocking Barnett down twice. Ortiz fought two weeks later on the undercard of middleweight title fight between Golovkin and Ouma at the Arena Roberto Duran in Panama against former cruiserweight world title challenger Luis Andres Pineda (22-9-1, 18 KOs). This was for the WBC FECARBOX heavyweight title as well as vacant WBA Fedelatin heavyweight title. Ortiz won the bout stopping Pineda in round 6. A month later, Ortiz defended the WBA Fedelatin heavyweight title against Henry Saenz (22-8-1, 18 KOs) at the Gimnasio Nacional in San Jose, Costa Rica. Ortiz won the fight via 3rd TKO.

In February 2012, Ortiz fought 36 year old Epifanio Mendoza (32-13-1, 28 KOs) at the Community Center in Florida for the vacant WBO and vacant WBC Latino heavyweight titles in a scheduled 10 round fight. Ortiz won the fight in round 7, after Mendoza was disqualified for an intentional low blow. Towards the end of October, Ortiz fought three times in the space od 18 days in the Dominican Republic. He knocked out Jose Santos Peralta in 2 minutes and 24 seconds of round 1, beat debutant Juan Carlos Antonio Maldonado via TKO in round 1 and knocked out Santiago De Paula in 4 rounds. After an 8 month lay off, Ortiz fought in July 2013 against Joseph Rabotte, who was on a 10 fight losing streak. Officially announced as a 3rd round knockout, the North Carolina Athletic Commission overturned the KO on appeal, ruling that Rabotte accidentally fell out of the ring, resulting in a 'No-Contest' as the bout ended before the start of round 4, which meant the bout could not go to the scorecards. On April 3, 2014, in what was considered as his best and most known opponent in his career to date, Ortiz fought 42 year old former world title challenger Monte Barrett (35-10-2, 20 KOs) at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California. Barrett, who was taking this fight on short notice, was hit with a left hand on the nose and went down on his right knee after which referee Caiz stopped the bout without a count. Barrett announced his retirement after this loss. Ortiz landed 49 punches from 137 thrown while Barrett connected 24 of 83 punches thrown.

Ortiz vs. Kayode

On October 11, 2014 Ortiz knocked down Lateef Kayode (20-0, 16 KOs) in the first round to win the Interim WBA Heavyweight title. 15 unanswered punches by Ortiz which scored on Kayode forced the stoppage. After the bout, Kayode claimed the knockdown was a slip, and stated the stoppage was premature, however Ortiz tested positive for a banned substance after the fight. On October 27, 2014, the Nevada State Athletic Commission postponed the taking of a decision whether to change the result to a no-contest or not until a full hearing of Ortiz who was not yet ready to testify on that date.

After a 9 month lay-off through suspension, Ortiz fought on the undercard of World Middleweight title fight Lemieux-N'Dam N'Jikam on June 20, 2015 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada against 35 year old American Byron Polley (27-18-1, 12 KOs). Ortiz won via first round TKO.

WBA interim heavyweight champion

Ortiz vs. Vidondo

A year after being stripped, Ortiz had a second chance of becoming Interim World Champion, this time against Argentine Matias Ariel Vidondo on the undercard of Golovkin-Lemieux televised undercard on October 17 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Ortiz was supposed to face former world titleholder Bermane Stiverne (24-2-1, 21 KOs), but Stiverne's promoter Don King declined to sign the contract after the deal had been agreed to. Golden Boy then signed relative unknown 38 year old Vidondo for the fight. Vidondo was down once in rounds two after being rocked with a left hand late in the round. Ortiz won the bout via KO in the third round, after sending him to the mat with a powerful right hook. Following the stoppage, Ortiz climbed to the top rope doing his trademark chest beating.

Ortiz vs. Jennings

Ortiz had his first real test against former world title challenger Bryant Jennings (19-1, 10 KOs) on December 19, 2015. Ortiz won the bout via TKO in the seventh round to successfully retain his World Title. Ortiz's power was too much for Jennings as he hurt him repeatedly early in the fight. Jennings bounced back nicely in the second before again being hurt in the third, and then came back nicely again in the fourth. But from there, Ortiz seemed to take the fight over, then finished him off in round seven with a vicious left uppercut that sent Jennings face down on the canvas. This was Jennings first stoppage loss in his pro career. Ortiz improved his record to 24-0 with 21 knockouts and ranked at #1 by the World Boxing Association.

Ortiz vs. Thompson

On February 9, 2016 it was announced that Ortiz would defend his WBA Interim title against veteran heavyweight Tony Thompson (40-6, 27 KOs) at the DC Armory, in Washington on March 5. Ortiz stated it was "just another stepping stone on my path to becoming the unified heavyweight world champion.” It was later announced on March 1, that this bout would no longer be for the WBA Interim title, simply because Thompson wasn't ranked in the top 15 by the World Boxing Association at the time. Thompson had lost three out of his last five fights, with his last outing a points decision defeat to Malik Scott in October 2015. Thompson was also beaten by Carlos Takam and Kubrat Pulev in the last three years. On fight night, Ortiz knocked Thompson down in rounds 1, 3 and 6. Thompson got up, but the referee Malik Waleed stopped contest. The judges had Ortiz ahead on all scorecards at the time of stoppage (50-43, 49-47 & 50-43).

Cancelled defences

After Ortiz defeated Jennings, the WBA had wanted Golden Boy Promotions to put together a fight between Ortiz and #5 WBA Alexander Ustinov, and initially that fight looked as though it wouldn't happen, and Ortiz fought Thompson instead. However, in May 2016 an announcement was made that a deal was in place for Ortiz to face Ustinov in the United States with the fight to be shown on HBO, who had also broadcast Ortiz last two fights. The fight was to take place on the undercard of Saul Alvarez’s next fight on September 17 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The winner would be a step closer to a world title shot against the winner of the rematch between Tyson Fury and Wladimir Klitschko, which was eventually cancelled after Fury was declared 'medically unfit'. According to Ustinov's promoter, Vladimir Hryunov, the fight was pulled from the card on August 2, stating Ortiz was 'problematic and imploded the whole fight'. WBA ordered a purse bid to take place on August 15 at its offices in Panama City with the minimum bid being $600,000. Ortiz entitled to 60 percent, meaning he would earn at least $360,000, and Ustinov entitled to 40 percent,at least $240,000.

It was confirmed in October that a deal had been reached for Ortiz to defend his World title against French heavyweight Carlos Takam on November 11 in Monte Carlo. However it was later announced that Takam would next fight Johann Duhaupas for the WBC Silver title.

Signing with Matchroom

Ortiz signed a lucrative deal with Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Sport on 9 October 2016, believing it's the 'fastest way to stardom'. With this deal, Ortiz became the first foreign boxer to sign with the promotion.

Ortiz vs. Scott

The following day it was confirmed that Ortiz would be fighting for the vacant WBA Intercontinental heavyweight title in the ‘Monte-Carlo Boxing Bonanza’ main event against American Malik Scott (38-2-1, 13 KOs) on November 12. This was a European debut for Ortiz. Ortiz won by unanimous decision after 12 rounds fighting a highly evasive and defensive Scott. Scott went down many times during the fight which were ruled as slips. Ortiz knocked Scott down in rounds 4, 5 and 9 as the judges scored the contest (120-105, 120-106 & 119-106) all in favour of Ortiz who picked up the vacant WBA inter-continental title. At one point in the first round, the referee halted the fight just to tell Scott to fight as he had not thrown a single punch. Scott started getting into the fight after the half way mark with some counter style punching, none of which really affected Ortiz. In a lacklustre fight, Ortiz landed 146 of 472 punches thrown (31 percent), while Scott landed 45 of 155 (29 percent).

Ortiz vs. Allen

After Ortiz defeated Scott, heavyweights opened up about fighting Ortiz next. British boxer David Allen (9-1, 6 KOs) was one to make his voice heard and approached Eddie Hearn about a possible fight. On November 23, the fight was officially agreed to take place on the undercard of Joshua-Molina IBF heavyweight title fight on December 10 at the Manchester Arena. Allen commented on the match-up, "I don’t think he’s what he’s hyped up to be, but I will give him more opportunity than Malik Scott to show he is the real deal, I’ll stand in front of him and see what he’s about. I’ll stand and trade because I can’t do anything else. You can expect a fight, that’s for definite.” Ortiz scored a 7th round knockout victory over Allen. The end came when Allen was taking punishment against the ropes. Ortiz was landing left hooks and uppercuts, trying to take Allen out with one punch before the referee stopped the fight.

Ortiz vs. Joshua/Klitschko

Following the win against Allen, Ortiz was named mandatory challenger for the winner of the IBF, WBA (Super) and IBO unification bout between Joshua and Klitschko.