Luis Ortiz: No Way Wilder Can Take My Punch; Will Pay for Mistakes

BOXING SCENE - By Keith Idec

NEW YORK – Luis Ortiz is convinced Deontay Wilder won’t be able to take his power Saturday night.

The strong southpaw from Cuba cannot wait to exploit Wilder’s technical flaws, mistakes Ortiz promises will lead to him knocking out the undefeated champion at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. The extremely confident Wilder has knocked out 97 percent of his professional opponents, but Ortiz is sure Wilder is in for a devastating awakening when they fight for Wilder’s WBC title.

“There’s no way,” Ortiz said Thursday when asked after their press conference if Wilder will be able to handle his power. “Every mistake he makes, I’m gonna make him pay for it.”

Ortiz told Wilder exactly that, among other things, when they engaged in an intense staredown following Thursday’s press conference.

“I asked him when we were up there, ‘Do you wanna fight right now? We can go right now,’ ” Ortiz said. “I’ve got the hunger and I’m gonna do whatever it takes to win this fight.”

Miami’s Ortiz (28-0, 24 KOs, 2 NC) is confident he is a combination of intelligence, power and skill that Wilder hasn’t come close to encountering during the American’s ascent to stardom.

At the championship level, only Eric Molina appeared to hurt Wilder. Molina (26-5, 19 KOs) wobbled Wilder with a left hook early in the third round of their June 2015 fight.

Wilder quickly overcame that troublesome moment and dropped Molina four times. He knocked out Molina in the ninth round of his first title defense.

Mostly, though, Wilder has managed to avoid getting hit consistently with flush punches. Still, Wilder’s wildness at times leaves him susceptible to counter punches, the skillful Ortiz’s specialty.

“I’ve got power and I’ve got technique,” Ortiz said. “I don’t care. I’m ready to go.”

Ortiz, 38, and Wilder, 32, have combined to knock out 62 of 67 opponents (93 percent), excluding Ortiz’s two no-contests. Each fighter has gone 12 rounds just once, and Ortiz cannot envision that happening a second time Saturday night (Showtime; 9 p.m. ET).

“We’re both two guys with a lot of power,” Ortiz said, “and whoever makes the first mistake, the fight’s gonna be over with. And I’m not making that mistake.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.

Caleb Plant Easily Out-Boxes ‘Porky’ Medina, Remains Unbeaten

Boxing Scene - By Keith Idec

Caleb Plant didn’t exactly excite the crowd in El Paso, Texas, but he boxed well and picked apart Rogelio Medina on Saturday night.

The tactical Plant peppered Medina with jabs, used his athleticism to consistently move out of Medina’s punching range and won their 12-round super middleweight match by unanimous decision. Each of the three judges credited Plant with a wide win (120-108, 119-109, 117-111).

FOX televised Plant’s win as part of the Devon Alexander-Victor Ortiz undercard from the Don Haskins Center.

The Ashland City, Tennessee native’s victory over Medina improved Plant’s record to 17-0 (10 KOs). Mexico’s Medina (38-9, 32 KOs) has lost three of his past five fights.

Medina, 29, was considered a step up in competition for Plant based on the level of opponents Medina has fought during his 10-year pro career. Current or former super middleweight champions David Benavidez, James DeGale, Badou Jack and Gilberto Ramirez all have defeated Medina.

His experience notwithstanding, Medina seemed sluggish a day after failing to make weight for their IBF 168-pound elimination match. He came forward from the opening bell to the final bell, though, because Plant couldn’t hurt him and Plant was content to stick and move his way to victory.

Plant’s plan was obvious in the first two rounds, when he mostly moved away from Medina and flicked occasional jabs.

By the third round, Plant seemed more relaxed and began throwing more punches against his plodding opponent. A right hand by Plant in that round drew blood from Medina’s nose.

Medina continued following Plant around the ring during the fourth and fifth rounds, and he didn’t have much success. Plant continued to control the action in the sixth round, until Medina landed a left to the body that made Plant hold briefly just before that round ended.

Plant fell to canvas after the bell sounded to end the seventh round, but because their legs got tangled.

A frustrated Medina often challenged Plant to stand and fight. Plant ignored his opponent’s taunts and stuck to his game plan.

Medina managed to land several hard head and body shots during the 11th round that slowed down Plant. The rugged veteran pressured Plant throughout the 12th round as well, but Plant moved, ducked and held his way to the final bell.

Following FOX’s broadcast of the Plant-Medina match, unbeaten lightweight prospect Karlos Balderas went the distance for the first time as a pro.

The 21-year-old Balderas (4-0, 3 KOs) clearly out-boxed Mexico’s Jorge Rojas to win a four-round unanimous decision, but he wasn’t able to put his opponent down. Balderas won all four rounds on each scorecard (40-36, 40-36, 40-36).

Balderas, a 2016 Olympian from Santa Maria, California, rocked Rojas with a right hand to the side of his head barely 20 seconds into their scheduled four-round bout. Despite that early difficulty, Rojas became the first out of Balderas’ four pro opponents to make it out of the first round.

He didn’t land many flush punches in the bout, yet Rojas showed Balderas that he won’t be able to tear through every opponent. Balderas landed a very low left hand that caused a brief break in the action with 38 seconds remaining in the second round.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.

Terrible Head-Butt Leads Love & Han to Majority Techincal Draw

Boxing Scene - By Keith Idec

A brutal head-butt brought the J’Leon Love-Abie Han fight to an abrupt, unusual conclusion Friday night.

The super middleweights were engaged in a competitive fight scheduled for 10 rounds when an accidental clash of heads left Han unable to continue in Las Vegas. Blood began pouring from a cut near the left corner of Han’s forehead and he went down to the canvas, where he was writhing in pain as referee Kenny Bayless tended to him.

The bout ended at 1:02 of the eighth round, which sent the fight to the scorecards. It resulted in a majority technical draw because two judges – Tim Cheatham and Patricia Morse Jarman – scored it even (76-76).

Judge Richard Ocasio strangely scored the fight 79-73 for Las Vegas’ Love (23-1-1, 13 KOs, 1 NC), who’s promoted by Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s company. Ocasio scored seven of the eight rounds for Love, who had difficulty at times dealing with Han’s awkward style.

Han (26-3-1, 16 KOs), of El Paso, Texas, had to be helped down from the ring and was wheeled away from it on a stretcher as a precaution.

Love-Han was the second of three fights Showtime aired as part of a “ShoBox: The New Generation” tripleheader from The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Before the odd ending, the fight was close, though not especially entertaining.

Han switched to a southpaw stance and tried to confuse Love early in the fight. In the second round, Han landed two hard, straight right hands to Love’s jaw.

Han also connected with a counter left hook late in the second round. He followed that up with an overhand right to Love’s head as they traded in the center of the ring.

Love got hit less in the third round, but Han was the busier, more effective fighter in those three minutes. Love landed a hard right hand that backed up Han just after the two-minute mark of the fourth round.

Han repeatedly shook his right hand in the fifth round, but it wasn’t clear if he hurt it. Regardless, Han continued throwing it in the sixth round.

Neither fighter landed many clean punches during the seventh round. The eighth round was competitive as well prior to the accidental clash of heads.

Love, 29, ended nearly a one-year layoff Friday night. He hadn’t fought since stopping Dashon Johnson in the sixth round last September 16 in Las Vegas.

Han, 32, moved up from middleweight to box Love and fought for just the second time in two years. Before Friday night, his first-round knockout of overmatched Martin Rodriguez (4-21) was Han’s only fight since August 2015.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.