Las Vegas (USA) (AFP)

As he had announced, by way of "fist", the American Deontay Wilder thundered the Cuban Luis Ortiz a terrible straight from the right, to win by knockout and retain his title WBC heavyweight, Saturday in Las Vegas.

To say that Wilder's right arm is a weapon of mass destruction for his opponents is a mild euphemism, as evidenced by this 41st successful knockout in 42 successes. Ortiz, who had already paid for it twenty months ago at the end of an epic fight in which he had given in the 10th round, after making the American falter in the 7th, knows doubly now.

And it is precisely during the seventh resumption of this "rematch", all the less exciting that their first confrontation, that Wilder decided to finish with his brave opponent.

Under the watchful eyes of Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather at the MGM Grand, he fired his right fist in the face in the only breach conceded by the Cuban, so far dominated by the opinion of the three judges who granted him a comfortable advance (59-55, 59-55, 58-56) mid-fight.

But for heavyweights, more than any other category, one stroke is enough to bring down the black curtain in the other.

- Cries of rage -

An exercise which excels more than ever "The Bronze Bomber", which also has for him a faculty to cash the blows without flinching, even if in the 4th round, after three violent left hooks of "King Kong", he put himself to scream with rage, surely against himself and a little too to show that he did not hurt.

"You can see why no other heavyweight wants to fight Ortiz, he is very clever, he moves very well and his boxing is very intelligent, I had to control him at times and finally I found the distance. I saw the opportunity, I seized it, "summed Wilder after the fight.

"It's boxing, I was lucid when I fell in. When I heard the referee count 7, I tried to get up, but obviously the count was a little faster than I thought "Ortiz commented, though he did not know where he was at all, his gaze lost in the void in the moments that followed his landing.

"My IQ boxing is very high and nobody gives me credit," added Wilder, who had raised some doubts about him after his first win against Ortiz, then after the draw then conceded in December 2018, to the British Tyson Fury, the only one to date to have resisted him.

- And now Fury -

Scheduled even before the end of this revenge granted by Wilder to Ortiz, the second clash between the one who has just defended victoriously his belt WBC for the tenth time and the "Gypsy King" will take place on February 22.

"Now it's Fury, then I want the unification, I only want a heavyweight champion, Deontay Wilder," said the 34-year-old boxer, for whom the prospect of finding the whimsical Briton - at no especially not underestimate so far - only seems a step.

If it is necessary, Wilder will be able to turn to the American Andy Ruiz or the English Anthony Joshua, who also find themselves for a revenge in December in Saudi Arabia. In the first fight, Ruiz had created a huge surprise by beating Joshua for his belts WBA, IBF, WBO.

For Luis Ortiz, who dreamed of becoming the first boxer Cuban world heavyweight at 40, the window of opportunity seems to have to close with this second defeat in 35 fights (31 wins, 2 draws).

"I'm ready for any fight," assured the Cuban, which surely deserves, as Wilder repeats precisely, another chance.

© 2019 AFP