Former heavyweight title challenger Luis Ortiz has been adamant about getting a second chance at facing Deontay Wilder and he hopes to get one soon.
The Cuban star recently had a media workout in Brooklyn ahead of his fight on March 2 against veteran Christian Hammer and spoke about wanting to become a world champion. Ortiz, a former interim titleholder, says his goal remains to be a champion and hopes a strong performance against Hammer will be enough to give him a title opportunity.
"I want to be world champion. I'm going to go in there on Saturday and put on a performance that gets me another shot at the title. I've been preparing to be explosive on Saturday night," Ortiz said.
If there is one champion Ortiz perhaps wants to face more than anyone it is Wilder, the current WBC heavyweight titleholder. The two boxers had met in March 2018 in Brooklyn in the main event of a Showtime-televised card for the WBC title. Ortiz gave Wilder his biggest test as a champion yet, nearly stopping him before Wilder eventually got the win by TKO in the 10th round. Ortiz stated once again that he wants the rematch against Wilder.
"If there is a chance to rematch Deontay Wilder, that's the fight I want. That's the fight to make. I want to give the fans the fights they want," Ortiz said.
Wilder is currently looking for an opponent for a planned May 18 title defense after it was revealed that he will not be defending his title against Tyson Fury next. Although the rumored plan for Wilder's next defense is in May, no official announcement regarding his next fight has yet to be made.
The March 2 Showtime-televised card will take place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The main event of that card is a WBA "Regular" junior middleweight title fight between Erislandy Lara and Brian Castano.
