“It just saddens me”.
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I expect 1, maybe even 2, feel out rounds due to both guys knowing, and respecting the other man’s pop. They hide behind all these different things. That’s the thing about it. I think that was the first offer. I saw him get dropped in sparring before, but sparring’s sparring.
At 38 years old, and three inches shorter than Wilder, this looks like a step too far for him and the night when his unbeaten record will go. He’s got an opportunity to be the first Cuban heavyweight champion of the world.
Meanwhile, in an interview with BBC Sport, Wilder has criticised Joshua for being a cash cow who’s being milked by his promoter Eddie Hearn. “I get a title and I help my family”. Whether it’s his, sometimes erratic, boxing style, the size of his legs, or his opponents, it seems like nothing Wilder can do pleases social media or some hardcore boxing fans. That being said, if Wilder looks great beating Ortiz it’ll be said he beat an old man or one who was seeking a soft place to fall, and conversely if he struggles or is awarded a controversial decision, it’ll be said he was finally exposed. It’s a frustrating reality that Wilder faces each day. Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, doesn’t represent Ortiz. Every last one of them declined.
The WBC wouldn’t allow Wilder to fight Ortiz because Ortiz tested positive for two diuretics – chlorothiazide and hydrochlorothiazide – in a test administered by VADA as part of the WBC’s “Clean Boxing Program”.
“Hearn’s a little more eager than Joshua because he doesn’t have to go into the ring and get hurt”.
“We’ll get this AJ fight, we’ll make you some real money”. I’ve had to fight all of my life because people said I wouldn’t amount to anything. It’s entertainment. And I give them what they come to see, and that’s a knockout. That’s the fear factor.
The last, and most apparent, reason the champion will likely retain is Wilder’s reach advantage. Ortiz was popped dirty last October ahead of his originally scheduled bout with Wilder for failing to pre-disclose blood pressure medication, which can be used as a masking agent for other PEDs. He better take me seriously because he’s going to find himself on the canvas before he knows it.
“I had been taking that medicine for two years. I will knock Deontay Wilder out”, he said. I don’t have to deal with none of that because it’s already there. This is about to be my 40th fight with 39 KOs. I promise you that.
The two unbeaten champions will fight in Cardiff on April 1.
With a win Saturday, Wilder will have defended his share of the heavyweight title seven times.
This is the new reality that Wilder faces.
The counterpunching expert could spring a huge surprise on Saturday and turn the heavyweight division on its head. “He sees that as an easier fight potentially than the Joseph Parker fight”, Hearn said. “And Joshua been letting him because if Joshua really want this fight [with me] he know how to make it happen”.
Wilder has promised to be ringside if he beats Ortiz, nicknamed “King Kong” and who has previously failed a drugs test.
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But first the WBC champion, known as the “Bronze Bomber”, must dispose of Luis Ortiz, 38, in the seventh defence of his crown.
