Current Heavyweight contender Luis Ortiz (31-1, 27 KOs) continued his march to get back in the championship mix once again with a unanimous-decision victory over Christian Hammer (24-6, 14 KOs) at Barclays Center on March 2, 2019.
It was a near-perfect performance for Ortiz as the judges had the contest almost a shut out. One judge scored the contest 99-91, while the two remaining judges gave Hammer no rounds at all scoring it 100-90.
Although Hammer did a good job of competing for the entirety of the bout, it was mostly Ortiz who controlled the action. Hammer started the contest off very well as he tried to swing big blows with the Cuban Heavyweight.
His plan started off well as he seemed to have Ortiz hurt in the second round. A weird sequence occurred when Hammer cornered his man and seemed to drop him. However, the referee ruled that Ortiz glove actually did not hit the canvas. With Hammer seemingly starting to gain a bit of momentum, Ortiz took it right back by hurting his opponent later in the round.
The contest started to get more and more lopsided in the favor of Ortiz. Several times throughout the fight Hammer was visibly hurt. To his credit, however Hammer never hit the canvas and continued to fight on. Although this was a dominant showing by Ortiz it was also one that may have hinted at signs that the big Cuban Heavyweight is slowing down as he was unable to score the stoppage victory that many envisioned.
Ortiz is soon to be 40 years of age. There is no doubt that his time near the top of the division is coming to an end. With that being said, however he still has an opportunity to get another crack at the title.
Ortiz might be slowing down, but he is still a force in the division.
