Wilder-Ortiz II: an agreement concluded for September

By Jake Donovan

Deontay Wilder prides himself on being a man of his word. Unbeaten heavyweight champions have understood that when he said boxing fans should not expect an undisputed championship showdown with Anthony Joshua before at least 2020.

It goes well before this confrontation with the Cuban arm Luis Ortiz. Wilder confirmed the rumors himself via his social media account checked Tuesday night.

"Wilder v Ortiz II FIRE!", Declared defending champion WBC, two weeks away from Dominic Breazeale's first-round knockout victory. "To all my fans, I want to announce that Luis Ortiz and I have signed for a rematch, with the date and the site that will be announced shortly. All my controversial fights must be dealt with as soon as possible! "

A date and place are yet to come, but it is thought that the fight will take place in September. Two dates and venues are on Sept. 7 at Staples Center in Los Angeles (according to Lance Pugmire of L.A. Times) and September 28 in Los Angeles or Las Vegas.

The announced fight is a revenge of their slugfest last March. Wilder overcame difficult moments in the middle of his televised match on Showtime to finally stop Ortiz in the 10th round of their competitor at the Fight of the Year.

Rumors were circulating around a sequel shortly after organizers Ortiz (31-1-0-2NC, 26KO) refused a $ 7 million package for a June 1 clash against Joshua at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The heavyweight was offered the DAZN-header fight after Jarrell Miller was wiped off the bill after failing several drug tests late March.

The package offered to Ortiz instead revealed two problems: the dysfunction of his team, as well as an overview of why Wilder refused his own offer to join the DAZN family, a nine-digit contract that would have guaranteed him two fights with Joshua. .

Alabama, 33, has chosen to stay true to the Premier Boxing Champions brand, which includes its long-standing relationship with Showtime. He ended up facing Breazeale on the high-end cable giant's flagship network, unlike Pay-Per-View.

The same can not be said for revenge, as Showtime or Fox Sports will have to pay a much too expensive price tag without the card.

Wilder-Ortiz I have broadcast live on Showtime, with a record 1.2 million viewers. Wilder-Breazeale peaked at 990,000 viewers earlier this month.

Whatever one thinks of revenge, what is not clear is Wilder's claim that all controversial battles would be dealt with as soon as possible.

The first fight was not disputed, if it is to get to this point. It was originally scheduled to take place in November 2017, but only for Ortiz if the test result was positive for a prohibited substance assigned to drugs for hypertension. His crime was not to disclose the drug by completing the Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency's (VADA) voluntary anti-doping test forms, for which he was temporarily suspended.

Once the case settled, Ortiz was allowed to return to the ring in December 2017 after scoring a knockout in the second round of Daniel Martz. At this point, Wilder had already fought at the date of November, tearing Bermane Stiverne in the first round of a rematch of the January 2015 fight, in which Wilder won for the first time the title that he had now defended nine times.

Number 10 will come in a second fight with Ortiz, with no clear indication of when one will come in a first fight with Joshua.

England, undefeated and unified, has publicly announced its intention to speak directly to Wilder soon after the fight this weekend with Ruiz, who marks his debut in the United States.

That Wilder decided to make his announcement four days before the fight, it was simply to eclipse the event or simply to pursue his own career, is open to interpretation. Whatever it is, Joshua can only at least focus on Andy Ruiz.

What he does for his career on June 2 will remain a guess for anyone – aside from knowing that this will not imply an undisputed clash at the heavyweight championship with Wilder.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox