No love lost between Wilder, Ortiz

For the foreseeable future, it will remain a war of words between heavyweights Deontay Wilder and Miami resident Luis Ortiz now that their title fight on Nov. 4 was scrapped after Ortiz failed a drug test.

And talk Wilder and Ortiz have done since the fight’s cancellation two weeks ago. Both released separate video interviews with obviously different slants.

Ortiz said prescribed blood-pressure medication caused the test’s positive result. The native of Cuba and Wilder had agreed to fight for Wilder’s World Boxing Council title Nov. 4 in Brooklyn, New York.

“Who was going to imagine this — medication, prescribed by a doctor?” Ortiz asked in Spanish. “It was an error by me and my team not being aware that it was a banned substance.”

Wilder responded to Ortiz’s reason in a profanity-laced video.

“My [friend], you’re not on no blood pressure medicine,” Wilder said. “Let’s keep it real to all the people. You were in the hospital putting IVs in your system to flush this [expletive].

“That’s why you didn’t make it to the press conference. We [were] on it.”

Ortiz said as champion, Wilder could have demanded the WBC save the fight.

Although the Wilder-Ortiz bout is off, Wilder will keep the fight date. Wilder will defend his belt against former champion Bermane Stiverne, whom Wilder defeated in 2015. After his victory over Stiverne, Wilder has made five successful defenses.

AROUND THE RING

▪ Late Saturday, Erislandy Lara retained his World Boxing Association super-welterweight title with a unanimous decision over Terrell Gausha at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Lara (25-2-2) out-boxed an inactive Gausha throughout the 12-round distance of a bout that lacked action. In the fourth round, Lara floored Gausha (20-1) with a left uppercut for the fight’s only knockdown.

Two judges scored the fight for Lara 117-110, while the third also had him winning 116-111.

“I take the rhythm of the boxing match and that’s when I take over,” Lara said. “He’s fighting with the best in the division. He’s not a stupid fighter but he knew who he was facing today.”　

▪ Leo Santa Cruz and Abner Mares cleared their ring responsibilities Saturday and now seemed headed for a rematch year.

Fighting on the same card in Carson, California, Santa Cruz (34-1-1, 19 KOs) scored an eighth-round TKO over Chris Avalos to retain his WBA featherweight title while Mares (31-2-1) won a technical decision over Andres Gutierrez.

Talk of a second bout between Santa Cruz and Mares has remained a popular topic after Santa Cruz defeated Mares in a majority decision two years ago.　　

▪ Davie resident Teofimo Lopez remained unbeaten after his second-round TKO victory over Josh Ross in their junior-welterweight bout Friday night in Tampa.

Lopez, who represented Honduras in the 2016 Olympics, is now 7-0 with six knockouts since his professional debut 11 months ago.

This story was originally published October 15, 2017 at 5:53 PM with the headline "No love lost between Wilder, Ortiz."