Heavyweight contender Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz 31-2 (26) will be out to make a statement when he clashes with Alexander ‘The Great’ Flores 18-2-1 (16) over 10-rounds at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California on Saturday night.
The 41-year-old southpaw is coming off a seventh-round knockout loss to then-WBC champion Deontay Wilder in Las Vegas last November. In that fight, Ortiz was leading 58-56 and 59-55 twice when the stoppage occurred.
The fight was a rematch of their world championship bout in March 2018 that Ortiz lost by 10th round knockout with the challenger trailing by just a single point on all three judges’ scorecards. Ortiz down once in round five and twice in round ten.
The evergreen Cuban is keen to land another world title shot against either WBA, IBF and WBO champion Anthony Joshua 23-1 (21) or WBC boss Tyson Fury 30-0-1 (21) although he doubts either of the leading heavyweights would want to face him in the ring.
“Next year I would like to be in the mix with the other (elite) heavyweights and I think I deserve to be,” Ortiz said to The Ring through interpreter and trainer German Caicedo.
“Anthony Joshua is a pussy and is afraid to fight me. I know what I can do to Tyson Fury if I got a chance to get in the ring with him.
“As for Wilder, I was beating him the first time and I made one mistake, I didn’t keep my left hand up, and that’s why I got hit. I haven’t watched either fight. I don’t plan to, either.”
Before any of those fights can happen Ortiz will first have to get past Flores, who was stopped in three rounds by former WBO champion Joseph Parker in Christchurch, New Zealand two years ago.
“I plan on being the same seek-and-destroy guy I’ve always been,” he said. “My goal is the same, to be heavyweight world champion. I don’t care who I have to face or where I have to go to get there.”
