With what little damage Luis Ortiz suffered in his sixth-round KO victory over Tony Thompson this past Saturday, it is safe to say that the Cuban heavyweight can and will make a quick turnaround with little time off between fights.
In fact, Ortiz is preparing to fight on the undercard of the May 7th Saul “Canelo” Alvarez-Amir Khan middleweight title fight in Las Vegas, Nevada at the new T-Mobile Arena. There are no fights officially announced for the promotion’s undercard so you could argue that Ortiz is as set as any other current hopeful.
It was announced a few weeks ago that Lucas Matthysse is likely to fight on the undercard with Mauricio Herrera as the leading candidate to face the Argentinian fighter moving up to welterweight. However, it is still not officially known whether Matthysse will indeed be on the card.
As for who Ortiz could face, his team told Nestor Gibbs of Thaboxingvoice that Alexander Ustinov, the mandatory challenger for Ortiz’s WBA interim title, could likely get the prestigious undercard assignment. The WBA ordered Ortiz-Ustinov to take place by June 19th.
When asked about the rumors surrounding the potential May 7th date, Ortiz’s manager, Jay Jimenez, said, “That’s what they say. We’re waiting on Robert [Diaz] and Oscar [De La Hoya]. Alexander Ustinov, he’s the mandatory for us. It’s up to him to come down and fight.”
