Last time around it took Deontay Wilder 10 rounds to put Luis Ortiz out of the fight.
Now sportsbooks like Bovada are giving a massive advantage to Wilder at -650 in the November 23rd brawl that will take place in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. If you are curious about what these odds mean, they imply that Deontay Wilder has an 86.7 percent chance of winning this fight.
Wilder is 41-0-1 with 40 wins by way of knockout. Even Luis “King Kong” Ortiz said that Wilder is the best fighter of the last decade until somebody beats him. Ortiz is 31-1 with 26 of his wins coming by way of knockout. So, he has a level of power that cannot be denied or disrespected and is in no way an easy fight for Wilder.
That said, Wilder has to win this fight for the rematch against Tyson Fury to go off without a hitch next. If not, there is no immediate reason for Fury to fight him. It would make more sense for Fury to fight Ortiz for the WBC belt and then–if he wins–give Wilder a chance to take the belts back.
But this would most likely be after a rematch clause from Ortiz, so it would take us at least another year to see the Wilder-Fury rematch, which will be one of the biggest money fights of this generation of Heavyweight boxing. That said, this is a big money fight as well.
If you watched the last fight, you will remember that Luis Ortiz caught Wilder in the seventh round and hurt him with a devastating shot. For a moment it looked like Wilder might suffer the first defeat of his professional career. But he kept it together and then knocked King Kong down twice in the 10th for the TKO victory.
But what about this time around? Is there anything we learned from their last encounter that will act as a tell for what will happen on November 23rd?
Ortiz recently told Wilder that he “learned his lessons” from their earlier match. And now he is prepared to go into the rematch and get the win. He’s also grinding really hard, most likely to add some more mobility to his game. But guys like Andy Ruiz Jr. think that the outcome will be the same.
Ruiz told the press that he feels like Wilder is younger and stronger. Now I’m not sure if Wilder is stronger in the traditional sense, like pushing weights, but his overhand bombs definitely pack a bit more weight in them.
If there is one thing I can say about learning from the first fight and adapting in the rematch, Wilder does a great job of it. Back in 2015, Wilder fought Bermaine Stiverne for the WBC Heavyweight title. It was Stiverne’s first defense. Wilder came in and snagged it, winning the fight on points via a unanimous decision.
So the world thought that it would be another great fight when they met again in 2017 and Stiverne got his chance to get his revenge. But that is not even close to what happened. Wilder made Stiverne look stupid. He completely outclassed him, utterly destroying the former champ in the first round.
I mean… it was ugly.
I believe Wilder-Ortiz II will be a similar story. Maybe not as bad of a beating as the rematch with Stiverne, but Wilder is very likely going to adjust and come into the MGM and thoroughly whoop the Cuban boxing star.
I predict the fight ends before the eighth round. Wilder will catch him with counter-left and then land a bomb of a right hand that will set up a lights-out event.
Did you know that Wilder has three mitt men?
That’s how powerful his punches are, even with 20 oz. gloves on, and through the mitts, Wilder’s trainer has to rotate three mitt-men during training sessions. At one point, Wilder separated his trainer’s shoulder with a punch.
If you have to choose who wins this one in a life or death situation, go with Deontay Wilder.
