Luis Ortiz (born 29 March 1979) is a Cuban professional boxer. He held the WBA interim heavyweight title from 2015 to 2016, and challenged twice for the WBC heavyweight title in 2018 and 2019. As an amateur, he won a silver medal at the 2005 Boxing World Cup. Nicknamed "King Kong", he is known for his formidable punching power. As of November 2021, he was ranked as the world's eighth-best active heavyweight by The Ring magazine and the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.
Contents
Amateur career
Ortiz was a longtime member of the Cuban national team without succeeding at the top international level.
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, 91 kg
Ortiz had an amateur record of 343–19.
Professional career
Early career
A 30 year old Ortiz made his debut on 16 February 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 technical knockout (TKO) in just under 80 seconds in round 1. Ortiz fought again at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino for his second professional fight on 15 June against 39 year old Charles Davis. Ortiz won via TKO in round 4. In his third pro fight, Ortiz claimed the vacant WBC FECARBOX heavyweight title against 28 year old Kendrick Releford (22–13–2, (10 KOs) on 24 August 2010. Releford was knocked down once in round 2, as Ortiz won the fight via 8 round unanimous decision 80–72, 79–72, and 79–72. Ortiz won his next 2 bouts via eighth-round stoppage against Zack Page and Francisco Álvarez (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 28 January 2011, against Rubén Rivera (3–5, 1 KO). Rivera was deducted 2 points in round 4 and then disqualified in round 5 for repeated low blows.
Regional success
Ortiz fought twice in April, first defeating Jerry Butler via third-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. On 3 June, Ortiz fought at the A La Carte Event Pavilion in Tampa, Florida against 36 year old Jason Barnett (12–13, 6 KOs), winning the bout via first-round TKO, knocking Barnett down twice. Ortiz fought two weeks later on the undercard of the Gennady Golovkin vs Kassim Ouma middleweight title fight at the Arena Roberto Durán 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 the 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 José, Costa Rica. Ortiz won the fight via third-round 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 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 of 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 first-round TKO 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 third-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 3 April 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.
WBA interim heavyweight champion
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 vs. Lemieux on 17 October at Madison Square Garden, New York City. Ortiz was supposed to face former WBC champion Bermane Stiverne (24–2–1, 21 KOs), but Stiverne's promoter Don King declined to sign the contract after the deal had been agreed. Golden Boy Promotions then signed relative unknown 38 year old Vidondo for the fight. Vidondo was down once in round 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.
On 21 October 2015, HBO announced that Ortiz would have his first real test against former world title challenger Bryant Jennings (19–1, 10 KOs) on 19 December at the Turning Stone Casino, Verona, New York. The fight was initially being pushed for the Golovkin vs. Lemieux undercard, however a deal was not reached. Ortiz won the bout via TKO in the seventh round to successfully retain his interim title. Ortiz's power was too much for Jennings as he repeatedly hurt him early in the fight. After four rounds of back and forth action, Ortiz seemed to take over in the fifth, finishing Jennings off in round seven with a vicious left uppercut that sent the former world title challenger face down on the canvas. After the fight, Ortiz called out fellow heavyweights Deontay Wilder, Tyson Fury and Wladimir Klitschko, stating he was ready to prove himself as the best in the division. This was the first time Ortiz headlined a card on HBO Boxing After Dark, which averaged 616,000 viewers, reaching a peak 735,000 viewers. This was Jennings’ first stoppage loss in his professional career. Ortiz improved his record to 24–0 with 21 knockouts and ranked at #1 by the WBA.
On 9 February 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 5 March. Ortiz stated it was "just another stepping stone on my path to becoming the unified heavyweight world champion." It was later announced on 1 March, that this bout would no longer be for the WBA Interim title, simply because Thompson wasn't ranked in the top 15 by the WBA 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, in front of 4,585 in attendance, Ortiz knocked Thompson down in rounds 1, 3 and 6. Thompson got up, but the referee Malik Waleed stopped the contest. The judges had Ortiz ahead on all scorecards at the time of stoppage 50–43, 48–47, and 50–43. The fight was shown live on HBO Boxing After Dark and averaged 740,000 viewers and peaked at 807,000 viewers. This was an increase from his previous fight against Jennings.
Signing with Matchroom
Ortiz signed a lucrative deal with Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Sport on 9 October 2016, believing it to be the 'fastest way to stardom'. With this deal, Ortiz became the first foreign boxer to sign with the promotion. The deal was later revealed to be on a fight by fight basis.
The following day it was confirmed that Ortiz would be fighting for the vacant WBA Inter-continental heavyweight title in the ‘Monte-Carlo Boxing Bonanza’ main event against American Malik Scott (38–2–1, 13 KOs) on 12 November. This was a European debut for Ortiz. Ortiz won by unanimous decision after 12 rounds of 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, and 119–106, all in favor 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 punching, none of which really affected Ortiz. In a lackluster fight, Ortiz landed 146 of 472 punches thrown (31 percent), while Scott landed 45 of 155 (29 percent).
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 23 November, the fight was officially agreed to take place on the undercard of the Anthony Joshua vs. Éric Molina IBF heavyweight title fight on 10 December at the Manchester Arena, Manchester, England. 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 seventh-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.
Following the win against Allen, Ortiz was named mandatory challenger for the winner of the WBA (Super), IBF and IBO unification bout between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko.
Premier Boxing Champions
On 29 March 2017, Ortiz signed a deal with American boxing adviser Al Haymon. His first bout was believed to take place on 22 April 2017.
A day later it was revealed that he would be part of the 22 April undercard of the Shawn Porter vs Andre Berto world title eliminator at the Barclays Center, New York, against 36 year old journeyman Derric Rossy (31–12, 15 KOs) in a scheduled 10 round bout. Prior to this bout, Rossy had only won two of his last six fights but was well known for giving opponents a tough fight. Ortiz injured his right thumb during training. After receiving reports back from the doctor, on 14 April the fight was called off.
On 18 July 2017, it was reported that a deal was being worked out for Deontay Wilder (38–0, 37 KOs) to make his sixth defence of his WBC title against Ortiz. Wilder's promoter, Lou DiBella, had put the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on hold for 14 October and 4 November 2017. According to sources, Don King, promoter of Bermane Stiverne, mandatory challenger for Wilder, had reported to be working out a step aside fee from Wilder and Ortiz's advisor Al Haymon. Stiverne announced he had hired James Prince and attorney Josh Dubin as his managers, who were best known to have worked for Andre Ward, Shakur Stevenson and Bryant Jennings. Stiverne told Boxing Scene that Don King had not been given any permission to negotiate a step aside fee and he would work with his management team to ensure he challenges for the WBC title in his next fight. WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman worked on a deal to finalise Wilder vs. Ortiz for 4 November 2017. According to TheRing.tv, Stiverne agreed a mid six-figure payday to allow the fight to take place. In a phone interview, Stiverne mentioned the step-a-side fee and reported he could fight former world title challenger Dominic Breazeale next.
On 12 September it was reported by Showtime that the fight was a done deal, awaiting official announcement for the fight to take place on 4 November at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Showtime revealed the card would include Daniel Jacobs as chief support. On 18 September the fight was made official, pending the official press conference, which would take place the next day. ESPN was advised that Stiverne would fight Breazeale on the undercard in a title eliminator.
It was reported on 29 September 2017, Ortiz had failed a drug test carried out by VADA, part of the WBC clean fighters programme. The drugs found in Ortiz's sample were diuretics chlorothaizide and hydrochlorothiazide, which are used to treat high blood pressure but can also be used as masking agents for performance-enhancing drugs. The urine sample was taken on 22 September in Miami. Ortiz never informed VADA that he had been on medication.