In a very boring affair, Luis Ortiz wins by Unanimous Decision

By: Matthew N. Becher

Live from the Salle des Etoiles in Monte Carlo, Monaco, an afternoon edition of HBOs Boxing After Dark presented a heavyweight fight between Malik Scott (38-2-1 13KO) against the man who is mostly seen as the most avoided Heavyweight in the world, Luis Ortiz(25-0 22KO).

Scott has been very vocal on social media that he is constantly working towards the top of the division and in his own words “rebuilding rome brick by brick”. Scott last fought a year ago in October of 2015 against Tony Thompson and has only fought twice since losing a one round knockout to Deontay Wilder. Oritz will only be fighting for the 2nd time this year, with his last win coming against the same Tony Thompson in March of this year. Ortiz hasn’t been able to get very big named fighters to step in the ring with him, and recently took his talents to UK based Matchroom Boxing.

Both fighters were put in a position to get title shots with a win, either with the two current belt holders in Deontay Wilder (WBC) and/or Anthony Joshua (IBF). Also the titles that have been relinquished by the Lineal champion, Tyson Fury will be up for grabs in the near future. Ortiz already has a future fight date set up for one month away on December 10th.

Malik Scott came out jumping around the ring and clinching if Ortiz got even an inch to close. Ortiz twice put down his hands and gestured to Scott to come forward and actually fight. The referee was even inclined to make reference of Scotts no punching, running around the ring technique and asked Scott to engage.

The second and third rounds were more of the same with Scott moving around the ring with his back against the ropes. Ortiz, the stalker, began throwing
body shots, since Scott is trying his hardest to cover up his head and move away from Ortiz.

At around the two minute mark of the fourth round, both fighters clinched and Ortiz was able to land a left hand that dropped Scott. Scott tried to complain that it was a rabbit punch, and was even helped up by the referee. Scott went down one more time, which seemed like a very clean knockdown, but was waved off as a slip. Scott asked the ref to help him up with both gloves outstretched. Scott has little bounce left in his legs and seems to already be looking for a way out of this fight.

Within the first 45 seconds of the 5th round Ortiz dropped Scott again with a nice left hand. Scott was able to get up, but did nothing for the rest of
the round.

The 9th round showed a big body shot that dropped Scott within 30 seconds of the round. It was the only knockdown where he couldn’t accuse Ortiz of landing
a rabbit punch.

Ortiz did not look very sharp, maybe because of his long layoff or because he is 37, but he never put his shots together, looking only for the big
left hand knockout. Scott never looked like a fighter that wanted to fight, but rather survive, not get hurt and make a paycheck. A fight that was supposed
to be a coming out party for the new Ortiz/Matchroom partnership looked more like a dud. The brightside is, maybe one of these top heavyweights will see this
as an opportunity to take on Ortiz, and a big fight can get made.

120-105, 120-106, 119-106 (Ortiz UD12)

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