Malignaggi- ‘People are kind of sleeping on Ortiz’
Former two weight class champion and Showtime boxing analyst Paulie Malignaggi had a chance to weigh-in on this upcoming pay-per-view bout between Luis Ortiz and Deontay Wilder. His take on tonight’s fight is actually different from what many are thinking in tonight’s fight.
Malignaggi in an interview with Fox Sports Australia, thinks that a lot of folks are looking past Ortiz in the rematch against Wilder.
“I think people are getting ahead of themselves looking for Fury-Wilder [II], which I think is going to be a great fight if it happens,” Malignaggi told foxsports.com.au.
“But I think people are kind of sleeping on Ortiz. You know, Ortiz isn’t just a big, strong guy. He’s a guy who is technically sound as well, and I think him and Wilder had a terrific fight the first time around. I could see it getting kind of hairy again for both guys, and a little bit of a tricky fight for either guy. But of course trickier for Wilder in that he’s the one that’s expected to win.
Check out our take here on this weekend’s matchup with our latest edition of the Big Fight Weekend Podcast.
“Wilder has to figure out a way to make his jab effective,” Malignaggi said. “In the first fight I thought Ortiz did a very good job of nullifying Wilder’s jab. If you’re able to nullify Wilder’s jab, he’s not able to set up the right hand the way he wants to. So you know, he’s got to go to other methods. And the other methods, once you force him to use them, sometimes are kind of limited for Wilder.
“He’s got incredible power when he sets up that right hand correctly, when he’s able to throw it straight and be balanced enough to throw it with power, he’s actually got probably the best power pound-for-pound when he’s able to do that.
“But when you put him off balance, or when you set him off balance, you prevent him from setting his distance properly by negating his jab. This is what Ortiz did that gave him trouble, and also what Fury did in their fight by having a better jab than him. It kind of eliminates his ability to set up the big power, especially in big spots.”
Marquis Johns is a unknown humorist and avid boxing fan. His love for the sweet science goes back to when matches were 15 rounds and has been covering fights since closed-circuit pay-per-views. Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth is not only a quote by Mike Tyson, it's also a pretty good reminder to keep your guard up.
