By Ponciano "John" Melo Jr.
The perfect round with the perfect punch, Deontay 'Bronze Boomer' Wilder successfully defended his WBC Heavyweight belt on a rematch against Luis 'King Kong' Ortiz, Saturday night at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
A vicious right hand pierced through the defense sent Ortiz to the canvass. In that very moment, the fight was flipped 180 degrees.
At the count of nine Ortiz was still on his knees, referee Kenny Baylesss waved his hands and it was all over.
A once one-sided match favoring Ortiz turned into an upset.
Before the knockout, the judges scored the fight 59-55, 59-55, 58-56 all in favor of the challenger.
Ortiz was boxing splendidly in the first half of the fight. Coming out aggressive, he landed beautiful left hooks on Wilder forcing him to retreat but little did the challenger know Wilder was just waiting for the perfect time to unleash his signature right hand.
It was that scenario again that pumped the crowd and certainly remembered by both fighters as well. The bell rang for the seventh round, the time Ortiz almost had Wilder in their first meeting and what a perfect way for Wilder to set it up than a stunning knockout in the same round of the rematch.
Wilder has now tied Muhammad Ali for 10th straight successive title defense while also protecting his unblemished record of 42 wins, 41 via knockout and one draw.
On the post-fight interview, Wilder told that another rematch with Tyson Fury is set to happen next year in February.
"Next we have Tyson Fury, of course," he said.
"Then, after that I want one champion, one face, one name," hinting a unification match with either the winner of Andy Ruiz and Anthony Joshua.