Luis Ortiz: Maybe Joshua will fight me if I’m on disability

By Jeff Aranow: Luis Ortiz (29-1, 25 KOs) let it be known after his 2nd round knockout victory over the 31-year-old Razvan Cojanu (16-4, 9 KOs) last Saturday night that he wants to challenge for a world title against heavyweight champions Anthony Joshua or Deontay Wilder. However, the 39-year-old Ortiz says he may need to be on disability for him to get a title shot against Joshua, as he believes the British fighter is avoidant of facing tough opposition. Ortiz feels that Joshua only fight guys that he knows he can beat, which is why he didn’t agree to face WBC champion Deontay Wilder for September.

Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn could have made the fight against Ortiz two years ago when he was promoting him, but he instead matched the Cuban amateur star against David Allen and Malik Scott. Hearn then complained afterwards that Ortiz hadn’t shined in beating Allen by a 7th round knockout and Malik Scott by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision by the scores 120-105, 120-106 and 119-106.

Some boxing fans believe that Hearn was and is still afraid to let Joshua fight the southpaw Ortiz for fear of him losing to him. A loss for Joshua against Ortiz might hurt his popularity in the UK. Right now, Joshua brings in massive amounts of money in the UK in facing beatable opposition like Carlos Takam, Joseph Parker, Eric Molina, 41-year-old Wladimir Klitschko, Dominic Breazeale and Charles Martin.

“I want to fight Joshua, but he only fights boxers he’s sure he can defeat. I’m going to ask the government to put me on disability, maybe that way Joshua will fight me,” Ortiz said after his 2nd round knockout win over former heavyweight world title challenger Cojanu.

Ortiz did a bang up job beating the 6’7 ½” Cojanu in stopping him in the 2nd round. The only fighter that has stopped Cojanu in a similar fashion is Donovan Dennis, who destroyed him in two rounds in April 2015. For his part, Joseph Parker couldn’t dent Cojanu’s chin in their fight last year in May. Parker had to go the full 12 round distance to beat Cojanu.

Ortiz may want a title shot against Joshua, but he has a much better shot at a rematch against Wilder, thanks to the generous rankings by the World Boxing Council. They have Ortiz ranked number 4 with their organization.

Joshua will be back inside the ring on September 22 against former WBA heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin. If Joshua wins that fight, he’s expected to face either Dillian Whyte or Deontay Wilder on April 13. Ortiz will need to get in line for him to have a chance to face Wilder or Joshua. Wilder will either be facing Tyson Fury or Dominic Breazeale next. Fury says negotiations for a fight against Wilder could be concluded soon for a fight in December. Ortiz is more likely going to need to wait until 2019 before he’ll get a rematch with Wilder. Ortiz can probably forget about getting a fight against Joshua as that fight is not on the agenda for him.

“In my mind, ‘King Kong’ has not been defeated,” Ortiz said. ”I don’t feel I lost against Deontay Wilder. Those are things that my trainer and I have been practicing at the gym. I put into action the plan my trainer and I put together, and it worked flawlessly.”