With 43 seconds remaining in Round 7, challenger Luis Ortiz delivered a vicious right hand to the jaw of WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder. Though Wilder had dropped Ortiz in the fifth round, the tables had turned and “The Bronze Bomber” found himself in a whole heap of trouble. The chiseled 6-foot-7 champion looked more like a baby giraffe as his legs wobbled and slid around the ring, trying to gain a sense of stability.
Wilder tried to move away, hold, cover up or find any way to avoid what appeared to be the inevitable. All the while, Ortiz stalked and worked him over with masterful combinations to the body and head. With the referee watching intently, and prepared to stop the fight if Wilder continued to take punishment, Wilder’s sheer will allowed him to survive until the bell tolled to signal the end of the round.
The Bomb Squad, the trash talk and the trainers could not save him. In his biggest fight to date, if Wilder wanted to win, he’d have to show that he had a heart of Vibranium pumping in his chest.
The following round, Wilder stayed in survival mode, doing his best to stay out of harm’s way. Ortiz landed punches of substance, but nothing to make Wilder dance the way he’d done the prior round.
The ninth and tenth rounds were scintillating, a rare sight in modern heavyweight matchups. Wilder regained his wind, and legs, and Ortiz tried hard to snatch them both away once again. Halfway through the tenth round, Wilder’s wicked right hand found its target once again.
It was Ortiz’s turn to do the heavyweight waltz. Wilder seized the opportunity, sending Ortiz to the canvas twice before the referee halted the fight.
Wilder (40-0-0, 39 KO) successfully defended his title over the previously undefeated Ortiz (28-1-0, 28 KO). More importantly, Wilder and Ortiz put on a spectacular heavyweight show, injecting energy into a division that was heavily deflated until the past year.
“A true champion always finds a way to come back, and that’s what I did tonight,” Wilder told Showtime’s Jim Gray after the fight.
“Luis Ortiz is definitely a crafty guy. He put up a great fight. We knew we had to wear him down. He was a great opponent.”
The only recent (meaningful) fight to rival Wilder versus Ortiz in terms of excitement was Anthony Joshua’s eleventh round stoppage of Wladimir Klitschko last April. Joshua (20-0-0, 20 KO) will attempt to unify the remaining heavyweight titles when he puts his WBA and IBF titles on the line versus WBO heavyweight champion Joshua Parker (24-0-0, 18 KO). Should Joshua (the favorite) emerge victorious, the stage is set for a super fight with Wilder.
Of course, this is boxing that we’re talking about. Often things don’t go as smoothly as they should. There is much chatter about trying to build the stature of the fights by having the champions fight meaningless bouts in order to build a higher profile for the fight.
That is completely unnecessary. With Wilder and Joshua, you have two undefeated, explosive, knockout artists in the prime of their careers. There is no need for artificial buildup. The two have engaged in two of the most exciting heavyweight fights over the past decade. Meaningless fights provide opportunity for random injuries or shocking upsets to derail the bout.
With Wilder, Joshua, Parker, Ortiz and the impending return of Tyson Fury, there are finally enough talented and marketable heavyweights to keep the division buzzing for the foreseeable future. Hopefully the promoters will stay out of the way and keep the great heavyweight matchups coming.
Former NBA agent creates professional basketball league in Africa
Though the NBA is generally dominated by African-Americans, the continent of Africa has produced numerous NBA stars over the years. Many of the league’s stars (past and present) are African natives such as Hakeem Olajuwon (Nigeria), Dikembe Mutombo (Congo) or Joel Embiid (Cameroon). Others are born to African parents in different nations such as Giannis Antetokoumpo (born in Greece to Nigerian parents) and Victor Oladipo (born in the U.S. to parents from Nigeria and Sierra Leone).
However, for every African star to thrive in the NBA, dozens of athletes exist who could possess the raw talent, but lack the proper training or exposure to the game to develop and cultivate their skills.
Former NBA agent Ugo Udezue is working to change that.
In 2016, Udezue left his his cushy job with BDA Sports to return to Nigeria to start a new professional basketball league.
According to The Undefeated: Udezue started the African Basketball League with six teams in the spring of 2017 and rebranded it into the 10-team Continental Basketball League in six African countries. The CBL has teams in countries including Nigeria, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Benin and Togo.
In addition to creating hundreds of new jobs and opportunities with the CBL, Udezue hopes to help develop and discover the continent’s next great superstars.
“The motivation is more about creating an opportunity for all those kids I see that are seven foot tall walking down the streets not doing anything,” he told CNN.
“I want to cultivate all our LeBron James and our Kevin Durants here in Africa for Africa. We have the talent.”
Udezue is hoping to do for African basketball what Yao Ming did for the Chinese Basketball Association. Before Ming’s arrival in the NBA, the CBA was not taken seriously around the world. After Ming retired and got involved with the league, it gained legitimacy and popularity. The CBA has attracted the likes of Tracy McGrady, Steve Francis and Stephon Marbury, who has a statue outside the stadium in Beijing.
With the relationships and connections he built as an agent, his business acumen and the sheer number of African basketball players that have graced NBA, G-League and NCAA campuses, it seems very likely that Udezue’s league will succeed. Unlike the NBA, which has only one black owner (Michael Jordan), the CBL is filled with African owners and executives.
“In 10 years, I think [the CBL] will be the second-most impactful league on the planet as it relates to basketball, for sure,” Duffy told The Undefeated. “Basketball is going to be part of the lexicon of the culture in Africa. It’s going to be fabulous.”
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