Notebook: 'King Kong' has KO on his mind as he faces Ruiz in heavyweight eliminator
Healthy Estrada excited for homecoming defense; two-time heavyweight title challenger Shavers dies at 78; Show and tell
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Longtime heavyweight contender Luis “King Kong” Ortiz still has the same goal that he had when he turned pro in 2010 — to become the first Cuban heavyweight champion.
He has had two shots but got knocked out both times by then-WBC titleholder Deontay Wilder.
In 2018, he pushed Wilder to the brink and nearly stopped him in a tremendous battle but suffered three knockdowns before getting knocked out in the 10th round.
Wilder gave him a rematch in 2019 and Ortiz dominated, easily outboxing him for almost seven full rounds. Then Wilder landed his calling-card right hand and erased Ortiz in the final seconds of the seventh.
Ortiz has won two fights in a row since by knockout and, as usual, expects his upcoming fight with former unified titleholder Andy Ruiz Jr. to also end before the final bell.
“My goal is to destroy my opponent and win this fight in a convincing fashion,” Ortiz said through an interpreter at Thursday’s fight-week news conference. “Either he knocks me out or I knock him out. A knockout in boxing is the best thing in sports.”
Ruiz and Ortiz will meet in a 12-round WBC semifinal elimination bout in the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions pay-per-view card on Sunday (9 p.m. ET, Fox PPV, FITE and PPV.com, $74.99) at Crypto Arena in Los Angeles.
Both fighters carry power but they are also vulnerable to the big punch. Ruiz was down in his first fight with Anthony Joshua before rebounding for the massive upset knockout to win the unified title he held for six months in 2019 before losing a lopsided decision in the rematch.
In his only fight since, Ruiz (34-2, 22 KOs), 32, of Imperial, California, outpointed former contender Chris Arreola in May 2021 but got dropped in the second round.
Ortiz (33-2, 28 KOs), 43, a southpaw fighting out of Miami, was not only on the floor in both fights with Wilder, but former titleholder Charles Martin dropped him in the first and fourth rounds before Ortiz rallied to score a pair of knockdowns in the sixth round, when he stopped Martin on New Year’s Day.
“This is going to be an exciting fight,” Ortiz said. “One of us is going down, and I’m making sure it’s Andy. The only thing I know how to do is box, ever since I was a kid in Cuba and had to fight for my lunch money. I’m ready for this because this is all that I know. This is a fight everyone has wanted. It’s going to be two warriors in the ring and now it’s finally time to fight this Sunday.”
Ruiz knows Ortiz is aiming to knock him out. He has mentioned it at every media opportunity since the fight was announced.
“His plan is to try to knock me out but we’ve trained really hard,” Ruiz said at the news conference. “If it goes the distance, we trained hard. I’m ready for anything he brings to the ring. Everyone wants a knockout, but if you look for the knockout, you make mistakes and pay the price. That’s what we’ll be waiting for.”
The winner will move a step closer to a mandatory title shot but that is likely a long way off with WBC and lineal champion Tyson Fury and three-belt titlist Oleksandr Usyk discussing an undisputed championship fight. A loss for Ruiz or Ortiz would be extremely debilitating.
“Every fight is important, but this is especially important because the winner will hopefully fight to become heavyweight champion of the world,” Ortiz said. “It’s the most important fight for both of us right now. … It doesn’t get any bigger than that.”
Ruiz added, “Beating Luis Ortiz will help me become a world champion again. That’s the reason I’m still fighting. I want to become a two-time world champion.
“All the hard work and dedication, the blood, sweat and tears, it’s time for it all to pay off. It’s time to get the victory.”
Estrada homecoming
Junior bantamweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada is happy to be fighting at home for the first time in three years and ending an 18-month layoff when he faces Mexican countryman Argi Cortes on Saturday (DAZN, 8 p.m. ET) at the Multiple Use Center in Hermosillo, Mexico.
But even more so, Estrada is thrilled to be healthy going into a fight for a change.
“I am very excited for this show, where we can finally get into the ring after more than a year without fighting,” Estrada said through a translator at this fight week news conference. “I expect a difficult rival. I know that Argi will arrive very well prepared, and will have a man in the corner who knows everything, everyone, with great experience and achievements like (Hall of Fame trainer) Nacho Beristain.
“But we have made a great preparation and I have enjoyed that a lot because for the first time in six years I have had a camp without injuries, and that has me very motivated for this fight, and whatever comes next. There are so many great fights out there and I cannot wait to return.”
Estrada has not fought since March 2021 in Dallas, where he edged rival Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez by controversial split decision in a fight of the year candidate to unify his WBC title with Gonzalez’s WBA belt in their rematch that has them 1-1.
Estrada (42-3, 28 KOs), 32, later vacated the WBC belt and accepted the organization’s “franchise” title and last month he was stripped by the WBA for failing to make a mandatory defense against secondary titlist. But he is the lineal champion and will defend The Ring and “franchise” titles knowing a victory over the untested Cortes (23-2-2, 10 KOs), 27, likely will set him up for a much-anticipated third fight with Gonzalez, possibly as soon as December.
An Estrada-Gonzalez rubber match was supposed to take place this past October but postponed when Gonzalez came down with Covid-19. Then it was scheduled for March 5 in San Diego but called off six weeks beforehand when Estrada pulled out after contracting Covid-19.
But first up is the fight with Cortes, who could upset the apple cart with a win.
“My fight against Cortes will be a war,” Estrada said. “And the rest of the fight card will be very competitive and exciting with two more world championships, very good prospects (and) hometown talent.”
The other world title bouts:
Erika Cruz (14-1, 3 KOs), 32, of Mexico, will defend the WBA women’s featherweight title for the second time in a rematch with Jelena Mrdjenovich (41-11-2, 19 KOs, 40, of Canada, from whom she took the belt by seventh-round technical decision in April 2021. Mrdjenovich, who has not fought since the loss, was unable to continue due to an accidental head butt.
Hector Flores (20-0-4, 10 KOs), 29, of Mexico, will face Sivenathi Nontshinga (10-0, 9 KOs), 23, of South Africa, for the vacant IBF junior flyweight title. They will vie for the 108-pound belt Felix Alvarado vacated in March to move up in weight.
Shavers dies at 78
Earnie Shavers, a top heavyweight contender in the 1970s, who fought for the title twice, and was known as one of the greatest pure punchers of all time, died on Thursday, one day after he turned 78. The cause of death was not announced.
Shavers (74-14-1, 68 KOs) boxed from 1968 to 1995, although he only fought three times after 1983 — once in 1987 and twice in 1995. He came within a whisker of winning the heavyweight championship in a 1979 rematch with then-WBC titleholder Larry Holmes.
Shavers, who was born in Garland, Alabama and lived in Warren, Ohio, had lost a hard-fought 15-round decision challenging Muhammad Ali for the undisputed title at New York’s Madison Square Garden in 1977. In is next fight in 1978, Shavers lost a 12-round decision to Holmes in their first fight, which was a WBC title eliminator.
But Shavers, called “The Acorn” by Ali because he was bald, followed with five knockout wins in a row, including a first-round knockout of former champion Ken Norton later in 1979. That victory earned him another crack at Holmes, who had taken the title from Norton.
They met on ABC in prime time and although Holmes was winning handily on the scorecards through six rounds, Shavers was always dangerous with his right hand.
In the seventh round Shavers caught Holmes clean with an overhand right and he went down flat on his back. Incredibly, Holmes beat the count and survived the title-jeopardizing crisis to regain control and eventually stop Shavers an exhausted Shavers in the 11th round of their 15-rounder.
Shavers also beat former champion Jimmy Ellis and Jimmy Young.
Show and tell
With the passing of Shavers on Thursday, I dug deep into my collection for this gorgeous poster with artwork from the legendary LeRoy Neiman. It is from Shavers’ 1979 rematch with then-heavyweight champion Larry Holmes at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas — 43 years ago this month. Shavers dropped Holmes very hard in the seventh round to nearly win the championship in arguably the biggest moment of his career.
Ortiz photo: Ryan Hafey/PBC; Estrada photo: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing; Shavers photo: Getty
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What a fighter Earnie Shavers was; R.I.P. Any documentary recommendations?
I love boxing and its history, its a real shame Earnie Shavers has died. There's not many elite fighters from what most think was the nest golden era of heavyweight boxing left.