Luis Ortiz vs. Alexander Ustinov targeted for Canelo-Smith card

Menacing Cuban heavyweight Luis “King Kong” Ortiz (25-0, 22 KOs) appears to be headed for the Canelo Alvarez-Liam Smith card as a co-feature where he’ll take on Alexander Ustinov (33-1, 24 KOs) in mandatory fight. Golden Boy vice president Eric Gomez tells ESPN that the sides are down to ironing out a few “minor details” before the bout is finalized.

The 37-year-old Ortiz is most recently coming off a one-sided drubbing of Tony Thompson back in March where he stopped Thompson in six rounds. And although the 6’4 southpaw hasn’t received the same fanfare as a number of other notable heavyweights, he may just prove to be the best of the bunch — but that’ll have to be proven out in due time. He does look good enough to compete with any of the top names in the division, though.

Meanwhile, 39-year-old Alexander Ustinov is on a six-fight winning streak since his only loss – a 11th round knockout at the hands of Kubrat Pulev in September 2012. That being said, at least five of his last six opponents have records riddled with losses. This will surely be a much tougher fight than any of those.