Ortiz pulls out of IBF eliminator

Putting a particularly awkward set of false teeth in without your reading glasses?

 

I'm not up to date on Luis Ortiz's finances. If he is badly in need of money, this is probably the way to go. Ruiz didn't look all that great in his last fight to me. Who knows what might happen now that Ortiz has shaken off some rust? It could turn into a decent fight. I'm not so sure how Ruiz is right now, either.

 

The IBF rankings just came out. Ortiz is at #2, which means he would have gotten 75% of the split if he had taken the final eliminator against Hrgovic

I hope the PBC are paying him well to give up on a potential title shot, as I doubt he has the fights left in him to go another route. I guess they will be cashing him out against Ruiz Jr., Even if he upsets Ruiz Jr., where does he go from there? Another fight with Wilder?

 

New IBF rankings are pretty interesting. Both Ortiz and Parker won their last fights, both declined an eliminator with Hrgovic claiming injury, but Ortiz moves from 10th to 2nd while Parker is dropped from 4th to 11th. Clearly doesn't make any sense that Parker was punished for declining an eliminator but Ortiz wasn't but that's boxing for you.

Ortiz reportedly made 1.5 mill vs Martin with the share of PPV. So I guess he was rewarded for his loyalty to PBC as that's far more than he usually makes.

Ortiz/Ruiz Jr seems the obvious route, maybe WBC make it a eliminator as both ranked by the WBC. Will probably be PPV too and so Ortiz will get another 7 figure payday. Would be a good fight to retire on should he lose. If he somehow wins he'll either retire or just go back to milking easy paydays vs journeymen until PBC can offer him another lucrative fight which I guess would be a final eliminator or a WBC title shot if the Ruiz fight is an eliminator and he wins.

 

Parker decisioned an opponent who wasn't rated and Parker declined an eliminator for no reason.

Ortiz knocked out his opponent who was rated #2 in an official eliminator. And he declined the Hrgovic fight because he suffered a broken bone in his left hand and couldn't fight Hrgovic in March, which is when the IBF wants the Hrgovic fight to take place.

I wouldn't be surprised if the IBF ends up ruling the winner of Hrgovic-Joyce has to fight Ortiz.

 

Ortiz broke a bone in his left hand. It apparently is a legit injury so the IBF isn't punishing him for not taking the Hrgovic fight. The IBF wants the Hrgovic fight to happen in March. Ortiz can't even begin training until then. He has to let the bone heal.

I'm excited for Hrgovic-Yoka. I like Ortiz, Hrgovic and Yoka.

Like I just posted, I wouldn't be surprised if the IBF ends up ordering the Hrgovic-Yoka winner to fight Ortiz.

The IBF seems to be pushing to get a mandatory ready for the Joshua-Usyk winner. That fight was expected to happen in March. But it seems like it will take place in April or May now.

The title defense against the IBF mandatory likely won't take place until the end of this year. So there's no apparent rush to have a mandatory ready in March.

Ortiz-Martin and Hrgovic-Yoka is a nice four-man tournament to get a mandatory if that's how it shapes up.

 

You're misinformed. Parker's team already admitted they turned down the fight due to more lucrative options, not because of an injury. King Kong just won an eliminator and automatically gets a top two rating. Clearly the IBF believed he was injured, hence him retaining his rating. Parker turned down the eliminator, so he automatically by rule gets kicked out of the top 10.

 

You better tell Parker's manager he's misinformed too then because it was Dave Higgins who said Parker was injured and that's why he's passing on Hrgovic.

“He has had two major elbow surgeries and it is an ongoing problem, they get sore.”

“He wants to go to a specialist before he starts punching or doing weights again.”

“He also had a badly burst eardrum and is a bit battered, so we declined the eliminator based on these points.”

He also wished Hrgovic well and sympathized with his situation."

https://www.elitesports.com/blogs/n...-and-will-look-for-andy-ruiz-jr-for-a-rematch

Yes Ortiz won an eliminator but then declined the final eliminator, why was Parker dropped out of the top 10 and so too Hunter when he also declined the Hrgovic eliminator. But Ortiz and Martin don't receive the same treatment for doing the same.

 

Sure Parker won a points decision against a non ranked fighter but that shouldn't mean he should be dropped right out of the top 10. It means he shouldn't go up in the rankings for that win, but not kicked out of the top 10. It's clearly because he declined the eliminator same thing happened to Hunter.

I don't see why they'd mandate another final eliminator especially one they know Ortiz wouldn't accept.

 

Ortiz would accept but he has a broken hand. The IBF could've waited for Ortiz's hand to heal and scheduled the Hrgovic fight but apparently the IBF also promised Hrgovic he could fight an eliminator in March and after Ortiz broke his hand he (Ortiz) couldn't fight in March.

Everyone "assuming" Ortiz turned it down because he was scared (or that the PBC is 'paying' him to not fight Hrgovic) are just jumping to their own conclusions. Ortiz's team notified the IBF of the hand injury the Monday or Tuesday after the Martin fight.

Ortiz suffered a hand injury. It was confirmed. The IBF accepts that.

That's why I wouldn't be surprised if the winner of Hrgovic-Yoka is told by the IBF to fight Ortiz next.

The IBF is just trying to appease both Ortiz and Hrgovic. Ortiz agreed to fight Hrgovic if he beat Martin but he broke his hand. The IBF also promised Hrgovic he'd get the winner of Ortiz-Martin in March.

They're just trying to keep everyone happy. When an injury happens, it screws stuff up. But everyone has been off because of Covid, and everyone is antsy to keeo things going. That's all.

They'll sort it out. The IBF kind of caused this by imposing their own articificial deadlines when they didn't need to. They could've waited and held Hrgovic-Ortiz in May or June. But now they don't want to **** off Hrgovic. He wants to start fighting this year.

AS FOR PARKER, if he doesn't want to be involved in eliminators, the IBF, it seems, just isn't interested in letting him keep his high rating and has begun to cut him loose.

 

Oh this injury is a broken bone that happened during the Martin fight?

That changes it a bit. I thought it was a generic wear and tear complaint.

 

Hmmmm, it's almost as if people in boxing sometimes lie to save face, or make contradictory statements depending on the outlet. In a different interview, Higgins chose to tell the truth:

"There is an economic problem with Hrgovic. When we were building Parker's career, we were building his fan base in New Zealand. We financed it by investing a lot of money in Parker vs. Andy Ruiz Jr. in New Zealand. Does Hrgovic have a fan base anywhere? He has a high rating, but he has no fans, so the money offered to us is ludicrously small for a fighter of the level of Parker. Besides, this fight is at the very end of the line of eliminators, because the champion has other belts. So Parker will not fight Hrgovic for a fee that would barely cover his training costs. He will win, but then he will sit for years, waiting for his chance."

King Kong is legitimately injured, hence keeping his rating. Parker's handler publicly admitted the real reason they turned down the fight, hence being removed from the top ten as required by IBF rules.

 

Right. He fractured a bone in his left hand. It doesn't require surgery. But he can't have a camp and be ready to fight Hrgovic by March or early April.

 

Whilst I agree with you that Parker rightly has been dropped in the rankings, I have some sympathy for the established fighters below Hrgovic who didn't want to potentially take 40% in a fight that is unlikely to sell all too well. So, perhaps we should give Ortiz the benefit of the doubt, as turning down 75% of the split would be ridiculous. Ortiz may well have a broken hand so (whether true or not) I don't see how the IBF can drop him in the rankings.

Besides, It makes sense for Yoka to take this fight. Though he is kind of screwing Bakole (similar to how Whyte screwed Wallin).

I am going to assume the winner of Hrgovic #3 v Yoka #5, would be promoted to #1 or #2. Let's say they aren't made the mandatory, and the fight is offered again to Ortiz: Do you see Ortiz taking the 50-50 split, in a high risk fight for a purse far smaller than he is used to now? He likely will have to fight on a rival platform too.

Imho, it looks like Ortiz doesn't have much left to give, so l don't see the PBC matching him against a rival promoter's fighter. If Hrgovic wins, I suspect PBC will match Ortiz in-house (likely Ruiz Jr.). If Yoka wins, possibly we see the fight. Or they might just draw a line under this and make Hrgovic V Yoka a final eliminator as was planned since last year.

Btw where did you here this?

In the run up to the fight, you said that you expected the winner of Ortiz-Martin to be the mandatory, and there was no need to fight Hrgovic...

 

Martin-Washington was an IBF eliminator. Martin-Ortiz was an IBF eliminator. Normally, they don't have three eliminators. Just two. But apparently so much time passed due to Covid after Martin-Washington the IBF started over again with the eliminators. That's why I'll be surprised if Hrgovic gets the mandatory after one eliminator. Especially since Ortiz just won one in 2022 and couldn't compete in a second due to an injury.

Who knows, really. Everything has been so screwed up.

Hrgovic and Yoka could sign to fight and one of them gets injured in training or gets Covid and has to go to the hospital. And Ortiz might be back in training by then and he can go in a month.

Do they reschedule Hrgovic-Yoka or do they just make a fight with Ortiz?

What if it's Hrgovic who gets sick or injured? Do you make a final eliminator with Ortiz and Yoka if Hrgovic can't go (because they wouldn't wait for Ortiz)?

Just have to see how it plays out. As long as we get some decent fights out of it. That's all that matters. None of them are "owed" a title shot and have been waiting years for one. They're all just scrambling trying to get one.