Heavyweight contender Travis Kauffman (32-2, 23 KOs) has no illusions about his upcoming return on December 1.
Kauffman will face dangerous Cuban puncher Luis Ortiz (29-1, 25 KOs) on the undercard to Deontay Wilder's defense of the WBc heavyweight title against Tyson Fury at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
BoxingScene.com reported a few weeks ago that deal was struck for Ortiz to face Kauffman.
Ortiz fought at the venue back in July, when he crushed Razvan Cojanu in two rounds.
Kauffman has been out of the ring since a close ten round majority decision win over Scott Alexander, in a fight where both boxers were down in the first round.
The fight is a done deal. Ortiz is definitely the most avoided heavyweight out there today, no doubt. But this is where I come in. I’m not afraid of anyone. These other fighters, these heavyweights, they are afraid to take chances and fight Ortiz. But me, I’m so very confident I can and will beat him. Otherwise I would not have taken the fight," Kauffman told Boxing News.
"I’m not going to give away my game plan on how I will fight the fight, but as far as how it came – I’m a single father of three, I don’t work a day job and boxing has been my only source of income. So I prayed and prayed for something big and then I got a call for this fight. If a big fight opportunity such as this one had not come, I really don’t know what I would have done.”
Kauffman respects the skills of Ortiz, and he also respects his performance against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder in March - but he also questions his resume of wins - due to Ortiz failing drug tests in past.
In September of 2014, Ortiz tested positive for steroids after knocking out Lateef Kayode in one round. And then last year he tested positive year for a banned substance that was found in his prescribed nasal spray - which caused his planned date with Wilder to get pushed back to this year.
“Impressed? Well, I was impressed at how he stuck to his game plan with [Deontay] Wilder until he got clocked, but he is skilled yes, very, very skilled. But to me, you’ve got to question [him]. He is very talented and very technical but to me he does pretty much the same thing in each and every fight. And because of [the failed drug tests] you’ve got to question his wins. But today, the problem is, nobody does question anything, because everyone praises a cheater these days,” Kauffman said.
