Ortiz faces Scott, Smith seeks Sosa success and McDonnell makes Solis defence in Monaco

Known as ‘the Real King Kong’, the now 37-year-old is confident he can go on and topple the division’s top guns next year, such as Deontay Wilder and Britain’s Joshua.

“I want to fight the very best and I want to be heavyweight champion of the world,” stated Ortiz, who is 7/4 to stop Scott in rounds 4-6. “I’m willing to fight anyone, any champion, any place, any time. I’m ready for anyone: Joshua, Wilder, Klitschko. I know I can beat all of them.

“I feel I have been at my peak for many years now. I have simply been late arriving on the US heavyweight boxing scene. I have been fighting since I was in elementary school. Boxing is a very, very deep passion of mine.”

Before then he must overcome 36-year-old Philadelphian Scott in his first outing in Europe, with the latter entering as the huge 9/1 outsider. Though Ortiz holds hope of dominating the heavyweight division next year and will see this as a stepping stone towards bigger and better opportunities.

Smith gets second crack at world title

Liverpool’s Stephen Smith (24-2, 14 KOs) gets his second shot at world honours this Saturday night as he contests Jason Sosa (19-1-4, 15 KOs) for the latter American’s WBA ‘regular’ super-featherweight strap.

The 31-year-old Merseysider was on the losing end of a unanimous decision against IBF champion Jose Pedraza in April, as he was outdone by the talented Puerto Rican in Connecticut.

Although, Smith did bounce back in May with a comfortable seventh-round stoppage victory over Argentine Daniel Brizuela at Goodison Park and is next 7/4 to outpoint Sosa to become world champion.

“This is chalk and cheese to the Pedraza fight,” said Smith, the 6/5 outsider. “Jose is a tall, distance fighter who moves a lot and switches, relies on his skills.

“It was always going to be a cagey fight, one where I had to take the fight to him as he’s the champion, and that’s how it played out.

“Sosa is short, strong, known as a big puncher, so I have got to force him into mistakes and use my skills to get him onto my shots. It’s a good fight and one that’s more suited to me, I prefer a style like Sosa than Pedraza.”

The Liverpudlian faces a tough task, though, with Sosa having stopped Javier Fortuna to clinch his current belt and also managed a draw with former WBA featherweight titlist Nicholas Walters last year. He is 10/3 to defend his strap with a points success, while Smith is 6/1 for a KO victory.

McDonnell and Murray also star in Monte Carlo

Reigning WBA bantamweight champion Jamie McDonnell (28-2-1, 13 KOs) will look to make the fifth successful defence of his ‘regular’ strap against Venezuelan challenger Liborio Solis (23-4-1, 10 KOs), after a solid KO triumph over Mexican Fernando Vargas in April.

The Doncaster-born brawler emphatically overcame Japan’s Tomoki Kameda twice last year to retain his crown and will enter proceedings this weekend at 9/4 for a stoppage success over former WBA super-flyweight titlist Solis.

Coral sponsored fighter McDonnell, trained by esteemed coach Dave Coldwell, has enjoyed a rampant rise to prominence and recently outlined a potential match-up with WBA ‘super’ belt holder Rau’shee Warren or the possibility of moving up weights to face Scott Quigg at super-bantamweight.

“It’s probably the best I’ve felt for making weight for a long time, but I’ve only got one or two more fights at bantamweight left before I move up,” outlined the Yorkshireman.

The 30-year-old is odds-on 8/15 to earn a points success over Solis, though his South American opponent poses a threat and will enter the ring at 13/2 to spring a surprise.

Liverpool fighter Martin Murray (33-4-1, 16 KOs) will also feature on the card on French soil, but he now comes up against Nigerian-born German Nuhu Lawal (23-0, 6 KOs) after both Arthur Abraham and Dmitrii Chudinov withdrew.

The 34-year-old was outpointed by George Groves in June and is targeting a fifth world title shot in his career next year, though he’ll first have to overcome the obstacle of WBA inter-continental middleweight champion Lawal this weekend.

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