Luis Ortiz ‘would love’ the chance to meet Anthony Joshua as the Briton looks for an opponent for a rematch with Oleksandr Usyk.
Joshua activated his rematch clause to try to reclaim the WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight titles after Usyk upset him by a unanimous decision in London in September.
However, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has delayed negotiations between AJ and Usyk with the Ukrainian who is understandably more concerned about problems in his country.
That is why the British boxer would look at alternative periods for the interim period.
And Ortiz’s manager, Jay Jimenez, says his client “would be thrilled to take on the challenge of facing Joshua.”
The 42-year-old is a former WBA interim title holder and will be best known to English fans for his two fights with Deontay Wilder.
He was eliminated both times, but has since recovered with victories over Alexander Flores and Charles Martin.
When asked what is going on with the AJ’s re-match against Usyk, Eddie Hearn said the Ukrainian boxer had “more on his mind than fighting Anthony Joshua”.
He told iFL TV: ‘Look, it’s hard to be chasing these guys right now. Look at what is happening in their lives right now. They send their families to safe places and everyone takes care of each other.
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“I don’t think Usyk is thinking about fighting right now. He’s definitely not thinking about fighting Anthony Joshua. What I said was, we’re going to battle Usyk. We don’t want another fight.
“But if he needs a little more time until September, October we’ll fight in the meantime. AJ wants to fight at the end of May, first week of June.