Deontay Wilder has successfully defended his heavyweight title once again.
Wilder defeated Luis Ortiz by a brutal tenth-round TKO on Saturday night to improve to 40-0 on his career. Take a look at the climactic sequence, which featured Ortiz hitting the canvas twice in the span of less than 30 seconds:
The champ does it again. @BronzeBomber defeats @kingkongboxing in the 10th. #WilderOrtiz pic.twitter.com/vlHlcHDEtE
— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) March 4, 2018
Wilder was ahead 85-84 on all three judges’ scorecards at the time of the stoppage, but it was actually much a closer call than those scores suggested. Ortiz controlled the action for much of the bout, as his combination of power and precision from a southpaw perplexed Wilder for several rounds. At one point even at the close of the seventh round, Wilder ate a couple dozen or so shots in succession from Ortiz and came dangerously close to going down.
.@BronzeBomber remains standing. #WilderOrtiz pic.twitter.com/79QS8zQuSb
— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) March 4, 2018
In the end however, Wilder’s strength and unpredictability proved too much, and Ortiz, who was looking to become the first-ever Cuban-born heavyweight champion, was instead dealt the first loss of his pro career. Meanwhile, Wilder will await the winner of the Anthony Joshua-Joseph Parker bout later this month, which will be intriguing given what Wilder said after his last fight.
