Deontay Wilder will finally get his big fight against Luis Ortiz after all.
According to RingTV.com, Wilder will forgo his immediate mandatory title defense against Bermane Stiverne and instead fight Luis Ortiz. That fight, for Wilder's WBC world heavyweight championship, is set to take place on November 4 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, to be televised live on Showtime, Wilder's television home for the vast majority of his career in the past few years.
Wilder and Stiverne's respective camps managed to come to a resolution, with Stiverne receiving step-aside money to allow Wilder to go ahead with the Ortiz bout. The agreement calls for Stiverne to fight on the televised undercard against a decently-ranked opponent. If Stiverne wins his fight on November 4, he’ll face the WBC champion next, likely in early 2018.
Stiverne was named the WBC’s No. 1 contender in January after his WBC interim title fight against Alexander Povetkin was scrapped when Povetkin tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.
Wilder had been wanting to either get a big-name opponent for his next fight or get unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. Joshua will be fighting Kubrat Pulev in Wales in October as Pulev is the mandatory challenger for Joshua's IBF world heavyweight championship. Joshua is also the WBA champion and the WBA's mandatory challenger was Ortiz.
Since winning the title off of Stiverne years ago, Wilder has successfully defended the title five times, last beating Gerald Washington back in February.
