WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder still wants to fight Luis Ortiz, even though it’s been revealed his Cuban challenger has failed a drug test.
Wilder was due to defend his title in a high profile fight against Ortiz at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on November 4. That has now been thrown into doubt but the American champion is adamant that he will still fight on that day, at that venue.
“Still in training though, never lose focus. Never lose hope. November 4 is going down still at the Barclays. This s*** just getting started. It’s about to heat up,” Wilder said.
His career has been afflicted by setbacks, from injuries to potential opponents, not only Ortiz, failing drug tests. A fight with Alexander Povetkin was scrapped due to the Russian testing positive for a prohibited substance and Poland’s Andrzej Wawrzyk dropped out of a potential contest for the same reason.
Wilder it seems is frustrated and just wants to fight, even if it is still against Ortiz. “I just wanted everybody to know that I will be fighting on November 4 at the Barclays Center. An announcement’s coming soon. We’ll see what’s going on. We’re going to try and resolve this matter as soon and as fast as possible. I don’t know what’s going to happen but I know for sure November 4 is going down. It’s all up to the WBC, whatever they want to do with it. I’ve already put in the request that I still want to fight him no matter what,” Wilder said on social media.
“If you need some help with me, fine, let’s still make this s*** happen but it’s not up to me. We’ll see what happens.”
Wilder also claims he is now the most feared man in boxing, posting on Instagram:
