Heavyweight contender Luis “King Kong” Ortiz, who turns 40 this month, says he’s not slowing down. “Every heavyweight out there should know that I still have it at 40. Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder, I’m ready,” he proclaimed after a tougher than anticipated bout with Christian Hammer on Saturday night in Brooklyn.
“The fight wasn’t what I was expecting,” said Ortiz (31-1, 26 KOs). “It was a hard fight and my corner really had to work with me. It was a hard fight. After I got the rhythm, I heated up a little bit…I fought a fight that I hadn’t for years, which is box and work. So I’m not disappointed I didn’t knock him out. I showed some of my boxing skills tonight.”
The WBC Board of Governors has decided to enforce the ruling from the 2018 WBC Convention and has ordered WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder to fulfill his mandatory obligations by fighting Dominic Breazeale next. The free negotiations period for Wilder’s mandatory defense begins now and if no agreement is reached between the camps, the WBC shall conduct a purse offer ceremony on April 4 at WBC Headquarters in Mexico City.
The WBC had approved a direct Wilder vs. Tyson Fury rematch and ordered a WBC interim title fight between Breazeale and Dillian Whyte. However, Fury decided to fight a different opponent next so we’re getting Wilder-Breazeale.
Undefeated Nigerian heavyweight Efe Ajagba (9-0, 8KOs) stopped Amir Mansour (23-4-1 KOs) in two. Ajagba landed a short right hand as he sent Mansour to the canvas. Monsour was up and down a second time from a left hook in the final seconds of the opening round and was saved by the bell. The Nigerian Ajagba kept pounding away round two as he had Mansour ready to go. Mansour made it through the round but could not continue as the referee waived the bout at the end of round two.
Light heavyweight Callum “The One” Johnson of England dominated Sean Monaghan of New York early and often and stopped him at :23 seconds of round three. In the first round, Johnson came out with punishing body shots and straight right hands. The beating continued in the second round and a counter right hand finally dropped Monaghan. A follow-up barrage had Monaghan reeling and dropped again only to be saved by the bell after an eight count. Sensing the end Johnson overwhelmed Monaghan from the opening gong for round three finally forcing the referee to call a halt. Johnson improves to 18-1 with his 13th stoppage. Monaghan must reassess now at 29-3.
#7 WBA, #11 IBF and #15 WBC rated heavyweight Sergey Kuzmin (15-0, 11 KOs) of Russia defeated game Joey Dawejko (19-7-4) of Philadelphia by a majority 10-round decision. The fight was a chess match that had more feinting and taunting than punches landed over the first half of the fight. Kuzman landed some jabs that put a mouse under Dawejko’s left eye while Dawejko landed one shot at a time to Kuzman’s body. In the later rounds Kuzman began to land more combinations and that seemed to swing the fight his way. Dawejko took the fight on two weeks’ notice and that may account for some sluggishness on his part. Scores were 95-95, 96-94 and 96-94. With the win Kuzmin keeps the WBA Inter-continental title.
Former WBA heavyweight champion Lucas Browne. wants to redeem himself on April 20 at the 02 Arena in London against English heavyweight Dave Allen after suffering a stoppage loss to WBC#1 heavyweight Dillian Whyte in 2018.
“I’m eager to redeem myself at The O2 and will be coming for a knockout,” said Browne. “I’m a fan of Dave, I have nothing bad to say about him and I’m looking forward to a good old-fashioned brawl on April 20. This is the fight for me to showcase who and what I am to the masses. It’s a blockbuster fight and I know Dave is a big crowd favourite but that will drive me on to silence the fans.
“I’m at the stage in my career where I need to be 100% serious, I’m getting too old to play around. The loss to Whyte was the kick in the butt that I needed and since then I’ve changed my promoter, team, training and general approach to boxing.”