Luis Ortiz

Ortiz fought two weeks later on the undercard of the Gennady Golovkin vs Kassim Ouma middleweight title fight at the Arena Roberto Durán in Panama, against former cruiserweight world title challenger Luis Andres Pineda (22-9-1, 18 KOs).

This was for the WBC FECARBOX heavyweight title as well as the vacant WBA Fedelatin heavyweight title.

Ortiz won the bout, stopping Pineda in round 6.

A month later, Ortiz defended the WBA Fedelatin heavyweight title against Henry Saenz (22–8–1, 18 KOs) at the Gimnasio Nacional in San José, Costa Rica.

Ortiz won the fight via third-round TKO.

Luis Ortiz (born 29 March 1979) is a Cuban professional boxer.

As an amateur, he won a silver medal at the 2005 Boxing World Cup.

Nicknamed "King Kong", he is known for his formidable punching power and counterpunching skills.

As of November 2021, he was ranked as the world's eighth-best active heavyweight by The Ring magazine and the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.

Ortiz was a longtime member of the Cuban national team without succeeding at the top international level.

Ortiz had an amateur record of 343–19.

A 30 year old Ortiz made his debut on 16 February 2010, against American boxer Lamar Davis (4–1, 1 KO) in a scheduled 4 round bout at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

Ortiz won the fight via technical knockout (TKO) in just under 80 seconds in round 1.

Ortiz fought again at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino for his second professional fight on 15 June against 39 year old Charles Davis.

Ortiz won via TKO in round 4.

In his third pro fight, Ortiz claimed the vacant WBC FECARBOX heavyweight title against 28 year old Kendrick Releford (22–13–2, (10 KOs) on 24 August 2010. Releford was knocked down once in round 2, as Ortiz won the fight via 8 round unanimous decision 80–72, 79–72, and 79–72. Ortiz won his next 2 bouts via eighth-round stoppage against Zack Page and Francisco Álvarez (12–1, 10 KO), improving his record to 5 wins in as many fights, with 4 coming within the distance. Ortiz fought at the Double Tree Westshore Hotel in Tampa, Florida on 28 January 2011, against Rubén Rivera (3–5, 1 KO). Rivera was deducted 2 points in round 4 and then disqualified in round 5 for repeated low blows.

Ortiz fought twice in April, first defeating Jerry Butler via third-round TKO and then knocking out former world title challenger Bert Cooper (38–22, 31 KOs) within 2 rounds.

Ortiz then fought 27 year old Corey Winfield (4–7, 2 KOs) in May at the Rec Center in Wilson, North Carolina.

Ortiz won the bout via knockout in round 3.

On 3 June, Ortiz fought at the A La Carte Event Pavilion in Tampa, Florida against 36 year old Jason Barnett (12-13, 6 KOs), winning the bout via first-round TKO, knocking Barnett down twice.

In February 2012, Ortiz fought 36 year old Epifanio Mendoza (32–13–1, 28 KOs) at the Community Center in Florida for the vacant WBO and WBC Latino heavyweight titles in a scheduled 10 round fight.

Ortiz won the fight in round 7, after Mendoza was disqualified for an intentional low blow.

Towards the end of October, Ortiz fought three times in the space of 18 days in the Dominican Republic.

He knocked out Jose Santos Peralta in 2 minutes and 24 seconds of round 1, beat debutant Juan Carlos Antonio Maldonado via first-round TKO and knocked out Santiago De Paula in 4 rounds.

After an 8-month lay off, Ortiz fought in July 2013 against Joseph Rabotte, who was on a 10 fight losing streak.

Officially announced as a third-round knockout, the North Carolina Athletic Commission overturned the KO on appeal, ruling that Rabotte accidentally fell out of the ring, resulting in a 'No-Contest' as the bout ended before the start of round 4, which meant the bout could not go to the scorecards.

On 3 April 2014, in what was considered as his best and most known opponent in his career to date, Ortiz fought 42 year old former world title challenger Monte Barrett (35–10–2, 20 KOs) at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California.

Barrett, who was taking this fight on short notice, was hit with a left hand on the nose and went down on his right knee after which referee Caiz stopped the bout without a count.

Barrett announced his retirement after this loss.

Ortiz landed 49 punches from 137 thrown while Barrett connected 24 of 83 punches thrown.

In August 2014, it was reported by Boxing Scene that Ortiz would get his first world title opportunity, fighting for the vacant WBA interim heavyweight title against the undefeated former cruiserweight contender Lateef Kayode (20–0, 16 KOs) on 11 September at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The card was to be televised on Fox Sports 1.

Ortiz knocked down Lateef Kayode in the first round to win the Interim WBA heavyweight title.

After Ortiz landed 15 unanswered punches on Kayode, the referee waved off the fight.

After the bout, Kayode claimed the knockdown was a slip, and stated the stoppage was premature.

However, Ortiz tested positive for a banned substance after the fight.

On 27 October 2014, the Nevada State Athletic Commission postponed the taking of a decision to potentially change the result to a no-contest until a full hearing was held, as Ortiz was not yet ready to testify on that date.

He held the WBA interim heavyweight title from 2015 to 2016, and challenged twice for the WBC heavyweight title in 2018 and 2019.

After a 9-month suspension, Ortiz fought on the undercard of world middleweight title fight Lemieux–N'Dam N'Jikam on 20 June 2015, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada, against 35 year old American Byron Polley (27–18–1, 12 KOs).

Ortiz won via first-round TKO.