Luis Ortiz announces arrival with seventh-round KO of Bryant Jennings in heavyweight slugfest

VERONA, N.Y. - The heavyweight division is officially on notice.

Luis Ortiz announced his arrival Saturday as a serious player in boxing's glamour weight class with a seventh-round stoppage of contender Bryant Jennings in a tremendous HBO fight at Turning Stone Resort & Casino. The Cuban dropped Jennings flat on his face with a devastating left uppercut, but, somehow, he crawled to his feet and beat the count.

Ortiz (24-0, 21 KOs) didn't let him off the hook. The 36-year-old battered Jennings and landed a clean overhand right that sent him sprawling into the ropes, then a quick left that forced referee Dick Pakozdi to halt the contest at 2:41. Jennings cried out in frustration, as Ortiz ran to the nearest turnbuckle and beat his chest, mimicking his King Kong moniker.

"I want the best. Line 'em up, I'll fight 'em all," Ortiz said through Golden Boy Promotions vice president Eric Gomez, who translated. "I invite everyone to come fight me on HBO."

Ortiz says he's had the flu for two weeks, but never considered withdrawing from the fight. He couldn't stop coughing during a sit-down with the media following the fight, and said he was vomiting with a high fever over the weekend.

But it was impossible to tell he was anything less than 100% from his performance. Ortiz had Jennings in big trouble in the opening round after a salvo of shots, and then also beat him up in Round 2. The WBA interim heavyweight champ was punishing Jennings in Round 3, too, following a chopping left, but the Philadelphian was able to weather the storm and began to march forward.

Jennings (19-2, 10 KOs) had his best round of the night in the fourth and landed some nice lefts and uppercuts, but Ortiz, displaying his vast amateur experience, adapted and began to box at distance on his feet. The southpaw flicked his jab and caught Jennings coming in with clean overhand lefts and right uppercuts.

The big men competed at a feverish pace, but it was clear that Jennings simply couldn't match Ortiz's unique blend of size, speed and power.

"I kept letting him hit me and I underestimated his pedigree," Jennings, 31, said. "I was fighting pressure with pedigree and he out-bested me tonight. He was hitting me with clean shots and they were good punches. I wasn't on my game and he got the best of me tonight. I think it was his pedigree that overpowered me."

Jennings, who had only 17 amateur fights and turned pro at 25, was coming off the first defeat of his career. But it was also his most impressive performance to date. The vegan went the distance with Wladimir Klitschko and even won three rounds on two scorecards. Ortiz proved to be a different beast altogether, though.

Scores at the time of stoppage were 58-55, 58-56 in favor of Ortiz, with a third card even. Jennings said it was a good decision by the ref and that he had nothing left. He did outland Ortiz, according to CompuBox, 136 to 128, and once again improved his stock in defeat.

"There's a new heavyweight on the scene that can do it all," Gomez said. "He can box, he can punch, he's exciting. This is huge (for Golden Boy). He can be a huge star. He's the kind of heavyweight people want to see. He has all the tools to be a star in the division."

While Ortiz had far more amateur experience with a 343-19 amateur record, Jennings had fought the far better opposition as a pro. Jennings owns wins against Mike Perez, Artur Szpilka and, of course, fought Klitschko, a future Hall of Famer. All three names were much better than anyone Ortiz had faced.

His best win came against middling fighter Lateef Kayode in 2014, a first-round knockout, but the result was overturned to a no-contest after Ortiz tested positive for the performance-enhancing drug nandrolone. The fighters agreed to undergo random blood and urine testing with VADA ahead of this fight, and Ortiz says it proves he's been clean.

"Obviously there was a game plan, but you go up in the ring, you have to adapt," Ortiz said. "I saw a lot of flaws in his style, I noticed that he likes to lean forward. I told my trainer after the third round, I'm going to work him on the inside with uppercuts."

Said HBO Sports boss Peter Nelson: "After that incredible performance, the sky's the limit. He's a riveting fighter and that was a spectacular knockout. It closed a great year of fights for us."

(Photo by Al Bello, Getty Images)