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Well behind on the scorecards, Deontay Wilder stopped Luis Ortiz in the seventh round of their rematch.
Deontay Wilder (42-0-21, 42 KOs) remained undefeated and defended his WBC heavyweight title for the tenth time with a seventh-round KO of Luis Ortiz (31-2-2 NCs, 26 KOs).
It was a fairly slow start to the fight, with not much action taking place in the first two rounds. Ortiz did a good job of using his jab and setting up a big overhand left which he landed in the first. A cut opened up on the right side of the Cuban’s head which seemed to be from a elbow by Wilder.
Ortiz continued for the next two rounds trying to force Wilder up into the corner and land his left hand. “The Bronze Bomber” was let to land anything meaningful, instead pacing himself and clearly showing a lot of respect for the power of Ortiz.
It was much the same up until round seven. Wilder didn’t even land a punch in the fifth round as Ortiz fought very well off of his jab, troubling Wilder and making the knockout artist throw virtually no power punches at all.
Suddenly come the seventh round, it all changed out of nowhere. As wilder began to measure Ortiz with his left hand, he fired a short right hand straight down the middle which dropped Ortiz. Although it looked like he would get back to his feet when the count came to eight, he couldn’t and referee Kenny Bayless rightfully stopped the fight.
It’s likely that Wilder will rematch Tyson Fury in his next fight in early 2020 following his KO win over Ortiz. Fury picked up two wins in 2019, a stoppage win over Tom Schwarz and a decision against Otto Wallin.
Official result: Deontay Wilder def. Luis Ortiz by KO in the seventh round