How would this have gone had Wilder been up against a prime Luis Ortiz? I've just rematched the two fights and can't get I've how dominant Ortiz was, until Wilder hurt him, and then how well Wilder closed the show once he landed. Would Wilder have always knocked out Ortiz, or would Ortiz have been able to finish Wilder off in his prime?
Wilder needed help against old Ortiz on heart meds in #1... So it's possible. Ortiz never proved he was anything particularly special, but the problem is that we just don't know if he would've done much better - it's difficult to be confident that's he's not a Zhang type fighter who gets better when he's past what should be his physical prime. In all honesty... I prefer not to play too much with hypotheticals about how much better a career a guy might've had. Most of these guys who theoretically (in popular belief) could've had a better career? They chose not to. And if they chose to have a mediocre career, do they deserve me to come along and give them extra, undeserved, credit? No - let them languish in the mediocrity they chose.
It depends if they're using the London Prize Ring rules which Ortiz used in his prime or if they'll use Marquis of Queensberry rules that Wilder is more familiar with.
After years of research on the subject called Luis Ortiz's life and career I have yet to come to the conclusion when he was in his prime. I think the time he dyed his hair blonde was a time he was having some sort of an age crisis and by my estimation it was a mid-life crisis where he was likely at the age somewhere between 30-50 years old. That means he was likely slightly past prime at the time which would make his actual prime to be in the amateurs. To answer to the question I think the slightly past prime blonde Ortiz would have taken Wilder out.
Ortiz dropped a bunch of weight during the great depression, he was never the same since. Wilder turned it all around by landing one punch. Ortiz never really rose to a level where I have reason to think he could fight a perfect fight so I think the likely outcome would be similar with Ortiz doing well but getting stopped.
