The 37 year-old, who brought an undefeated and fearful record to the table, just wouldn’t let his hands go, allowing a petrified Malik Scott to go the full twelve rounds.
A dire contest that didn’t produce any sustained attacks saw Ortiz drop Scott on more than one occasion on his way to a wide points win that didn’t live up to expectations.
In the end, judges carded scores of 120-105, 120-106 and 119-106 for the former interim heavyweight champion, who moves on to a spot on the Anthony Joshua undercard in December.
It may not be as tough for Hearn to match ‘King Kong’ on Saturday night’s evidence as Ortiz attempts to build towards a possible shot at Joshua in the future.
For Scott, who has lost to Deontay Wilder in one and Dereck Chisora in six, the reverse marks a career-best result which really says it all about the win for Ortiz.
After the fight, Hearn admitted Scott was just trying to survive and promised a better performance from Ortiz when someone comes to fight him.
Earlier, Jamie McDonnell struggled to get past Liborio Solis in a fight he should have lost, whilst Martin Murray laboured against late replacement Nuhu Lawal in what was a poor beginning to Hearn’s first show in Monte Carlo.
