Bandog wrote: ↑03 Sep 2020, 09:10
Enlightened-One wrote: ↑02 Sep 2020, 11:45
Bandog wrote: ↑02 Sep 2020, 09:53
A hard hitting well schooled southpaw is too risky for a tune-up, but too old and slow for a serious fight.
The "fearsome" King Kong Luiz Ortiz rejected multi-million dollar paydays to engage in bouts against Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte.
The Cuban hasn't earned the hype and praise that was bestowed upon him earlier on in his career.
No one ducked him, because his team didn't even offer fights to any of Ortiz's big-name rivals. And they also rejected offers received from other fighters.
His entire reputation is solely reliant on his competitive bout against Bryant Jennings.
I'm sorry, but Luis Ortiz is just one big disappointment. I expected more from him and I suspect others did too.
I'll give you his team turning down AJ... As far as Whyte, that is a stretch, but ok. I do remember Whyte turning down Ortiz on more than one occasion as well.
Here's what I recall, which should be easy for you to verify...
On the 25th April 2018, the WBC officially ordered the final eliminator between
Luis Ortiz and Dillian Whyte.
The Cuban allegedly declined the opportunity to face Dillian Whyte on the 28th July 2018, which was accompanied with a two million dollar purse offer, because he claimed the scheduled fight-date was too soon for him. However, Ortiz actually ended up fighting on that date anyway, when he engaged in the preposterous Razvan Cojanu mismatch.
This assertion was communicated to the media by Eddie Hearn and Dillian Whyte. And I don’t believe this claim has been officially refuted by the Cuban’s team, but even if they had done so, Ortiz's handlers have a proven track record of lying about the financial offers they’ve received (i.e. as per Matchroom’s allegedly “lowball” and “BS” offer for the AJ fight).
That being said, there is a YouTube video of Team Ortiz only saying they didn't receive a contract for the fight, but they're only ever drawn up when the terms have been agreed. But regardless, Ortiz didn't want to compete on the 28th July anyway.
Meanwhile, Dillian Whyte had to find an alternative opponent for his 28th July bout, so he chose to face an even better fighter instead, Joseph Parker (as per ESPN's & The RING's ratings).