Just about a year ago, a scintillating right uppercut from Deontay Wilder reduced “King Kong” to mush, as Luis Ortiz took the first loss of his career to the roar of the Brooklyn, N.Y., crowd at Barclays Center.
Almost exactly a year to the date, Ortiz will be back at the same venue, set to face journeyman heavyweight Christian Hammer as the co-main event to Erislandy Lara-Brian Castano on Saturday night.
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Ortiz has made it clear that he wants a rematch with Wilder. Since unified heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua mentioned the Cuban slugger as an opponent he’d like to face, “King Kong” is up for that mega bout as well. Either way, dropping the Hammer convincingly will inch Ortiz closer to another title shot.
And as he continues his trek to get just that, Ortiz, who turns 40 later this month, is advancing another ongoing fight as well — against epidermolysis bullosa, the painful skin disease that his 10-year-old daughter, Lismercedes, suffers from. The chronic disease affects 500,000 people worldwide.
While most people have multiple layers of skin, those with EB have one, with the slightest friction causing the “equivalent to a third-degree burn,” Ortiz told Sporting News through an interpreter, adding “that’s how bad it is.”
Ortiz has been outspoken about his daughter’s skin condition in the past and continues to be today. During Thursday’s final press conference before the fights, he was acknowledged for it, as EB Research Partnership named him an ambassador on Rare Disease Day for using his platform to spread awareness about the condition.
On #RareDiseaseDay, Luis Ortiz was named an ambassador by EB Research.
— Sporting News Fights (@sn_fights) February 28, 2019
He is using his platform to speak about the rare medical skin condition (Epidermolysis bullosa) that his daughter suffers from. pic.twitter.com/nGFJ9KIkpq
“I have no words for that. It's sentimental. It's big,” Ortiz told SN prior to him receiving the honor. “I know a lot of fathers and people will feel that I'm trying to help them and know the cause I'm fighting for.”
EB Research, the largest nonprofit funding research aimed at treating and curing epidermolysis bullosa, is happy to have Ortiz in its corner.
“Mr. Ortiz has used his platform multiple times to talk about his daughter and connection with this disorder and how it affects himself, his daughter and family and how compassionate he is to try to extend that awareness how ever he can,” Stephanie Ishoo, a development manager for EB Research told SN, just before handing the ambassador proclamation to Ortiz on stage at Barclays.
Ortiz says Lismercedes is doing fine these days, holding onto the hope that there will be a cure for EB sooner than later.
“She was crying the other day because she heard that there might be a big possibility of curing her disease, so she's been really excited,” Ortiz said. “I'm excited, as a father, that hopefully they could cure it — not only for her, but for all the kids and people who have this disease and have been having it for years because they're not aware of it. I hope things come out good. But overall she's alive and healthy.”
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The same can be said about his career. While Ortiz is soft-spoken and humble outside of the ring, he’s a ferocious fighter inside of it, as evidenced by his 30-1 record with 26 KOs. Entering this fight against Hammer (24-5, 14 KOs), who has fought and lost to the likes of Tyson Fury and Alexander Povetkin, Ortiz desperately wants to get a title shot. Whether it comes against Wilder or Joshua, doesn’t matter.
“I only know how to do one job and that's fight whoever they put in front of me,” Ortiz said. “Joshua, Wilder, whoever wants it!”
If it’s Joshua, Ortiz wants the unified heavyweight world champ to understand one thing.
“I'm sure he knows that it's going to be a complicated fight, it's going to be a hard fight,” he said sternly. “It's not going to be a walk in the park for Joshua.”
But Ortiz has reason to believe that a rematch with Wilder, the WBC titleholder, could happen sooner, especially considering how plans for a Wilder-Fury rematch were derailed after Fury signed with Top Rank/ESPN.
“I don't really know the reason, I don't really care,” Ortiz said about the Wilder-Fury rematch fallout, “but the thing for me is that the opportunity for a rematch with Wilder is there and that's a good thing.”
During the promotion building up toward the Ortiz-Wilder fight last year, both heavyweights spoke proudly about their daughters’ illnesses: Wilder about his daughter Naieya’s spina bifida and Ortiz about his daughter Lismercedes’ EB.
Through that, a bond was formed.
“Away from the boxing — that's business — we got mutual respect for each other,” Ortiz said. “I respect him a lot because I know the pain like only a father with a sick daughter or son would know the pain we carry. I respect him a lot and we have a bond because of that. And you could tell overall from the things he says that he loves his kids, so I respect Wilder.”
Weeks away from turning the big 4-0, there’s urgency on Ortiz’s part to get that title shot against a Joshua or Wilder and make sure his career twilight can still generate a highlight.
If it’s Wilder in the form of a rematch, “King Kong” will look to exact revenge on the only person to ever reduce him to mush. Well ... second, considering Lismercedes and the love her dad has for her, as they attempt to knock out EB for good. Until then, both fights continue.
