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Mike CoppingerESPN
Luis Ortiz and Charles Martin have agreed to meet in a heavyweight fight on Jan. 1 at the Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida, multiple sources have told ESPN.
The New Year’s Day clash presented by PBC pits Ortiz, ESPN’s No. 8 heavyweight, against Martin, a former heavyweight titleholder who sits just outside the top 10.
Ortiz (32-2, 27 KOs) twice challenged for the heavyweight championship. Both times, he was knocked out by Deontay Wilder in a fight he was winning on the scorecards.
Ortiz, from Cuba, will end a career-long 14-month layoff with the fight against Martin. He last competed in November 2020 with a first-round knockout of Alexander Flores. Ortiz, 42, resides in Miami, so the fight will be a homecoming for him.
Martin (28-2-1, 25 KOs) will also be halting the longest inactivity of his career. The 35-year-old hasn’t fought since a sixth-round TKO victory over Gerald Washington in February 2020.
The Southern Californian’s losses came against former champion Anthony Joshua and later vs. Adam Kownacki. Ortiz and Martin figure to be the toughest test of each other’s careers outside of their combined four defeats.
Source: www.espn.com