Evander Holyfield exclusively told World Boxing News that Luis Ortiz is more skillful than two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.
“The Real Deal” made the statement despite Ortiz never winning one of the four major titles in the sport.
Ortiz twice dominated Deontay Wilder, though, only to be knocked out on both occasions. Based on this evidence, this is where Holyfield may have a case.
Holyfield on Luis Ortiz
“Deontay is a very confident and serious guy,” Holyfield told World Boxing News before Wilder vs Ortiz II. “I just don’t know if I’d have given Ortiz another fight.
“This is down to the fact he’s professional and really good, other than Anthony Joshua. I wouldn’t even so much as say that Anthony Joshua is better than him – skill-wise.
“Ortiz has been doing it for a long time. Nobody would fight him, which is kinda sad. He’s a good fighter, so nobody wants to fight you.
“They call him ‘King Kong.’ – The thing is he’s a good fighter, but don’t none of these people support him for the Cubans to come to his fight [against Wilder].”
Joshua
On comparisons with Joshua, Holyfield added: “Even though you’re a good fighter because you don’t draw big crowds’ people don’t want to fight you.
“They don’t have to because you don’t put bums on seats. But if you put butts on the seats, it’s different.
“If he lives in London and everybody likes him, then they pull the seats up ‘cos he’s going to knock people out’. It’s not going to be a fight that isn’t any good.
“He fought Deontay, and Deontay clocked him good. He also clocked Deontay. But the point of the matter is that he had to fight hard that fight and ran out of gas, which caused him to break.
“That’s the art of the game. When you’re a big puncher, you risk a chance of getting knocked out, too. He was close to having that guy out.”
Joshua is on the verge of confirming a three-fight calendar year for the first time in a long time. That’s despite saying for the past few years; he wanted to fight four times and go on a world tour.
Meanwhile, Ortiz is likely to officially confirm retirement by 2024, having been in the ring with many of the top fighters in the world.
Holyfield’s opinion comes as no surprise, though, as Joshua lost to Andy Ruiz Jr. and Oleksandr Usyk twice with a whimper.
