Saturday night proved to be an unforgettable night of boxing.
Local Bronx boxing gym, John’s Gym had mixed reactions when American heavyweight, Deontay Wilder, 32, put his WBC Heavyweight Title on the line against Cuba’s Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz, 38, in front of 14,000 fans at Barclays Center in Booklyn.
Isaiah Drea, an upcoming and coming amateur fighter was in awe at the fight that took place.
“That wasn’t a boxing match. That was FIGHT. Fight of the year so far no doubt. I personally thought Ortiz was going to win that fight, but man you never know with these heavyweight fighters. All it takes is one punch and Wilder turned that fight around. His power is nasty,” claimed Drea, in between rounds of hitting the heavy bag.
Both fighters entered the fight undefeated with Wilder presenting a 39-0 record with 38 knockouts, and Ortiz coming in with a 28-0 record with 24 knockouts.
Prior to this fight, Wilder had received a lot of criticism due to his lack of tough opposition, but not a single person complained when this fight was announced. Everyone expected Ortiz to be Wilder’s toughest fight by far, and it was.
In one of the best heavyweight fights in recent memory, Ortiz started well, and won several of the early rounds. Wilder, known for his knockout power, dropped Ortiz in the fifth around before the Cuban rallied back and nearly stopped Wilder in the seventh round.
Things seemed to be going downhill for Wilder until he landed a crushing right hand in the tenth round, dropping Ortiz again before completely ending the fight with an uppercut.
While most fans praised Wilder and Ortiz for their fight of the year scrap, John’s Boxing Gym trainer, Coach Kano, was more critical of the performance of both fighters.
“I wasn’t really impressed with either guy to be honest. I liked how Ortiz would step to his right and counter Wilder’s jab , but that’s pretty much it. Wilder, my God , he fights like he just stepped into a gym 6 months ago. I’ve said it a million times and I’ll say it again, if it wasn’t for his power, he would not be where he is,” stated Kano.
Despite this, Kano gave Wilder his props.
“In a way, you need to respect that he has been able to get to this level because of that. He needs to learn other punches than just the jab and right hand though,” stated Kano.
Whether it was a technical fight or not, everyone can agree this fight has lit up the heavyweight division once more. It will be interesting to see who Wilder is matched with next, as everyone eagerly awaits a possible unification fight between Wilder and the winner of the Anthony Joshua (20-0-20 ko’s ) and Joseph Parker (24-0-18 ko’s) fight taking place later this month.