by Elisinio Castillo, photo by George Ebro

Unbeaten heavyweight contender Luis "The Real King Kong" Ortiz (27-0, 23 KOs) believes Derric Rossy (31-12, 15 KOs) should count his blessings that their ten round showdown was canceled.

The fight was scheduled to take place this coming Saturday night, April 22, as part of the Premier Boxing Champions event at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

The Showtime televised event is headlined by former world champions Andre Berto and Shawn Porter battling in a welterweight world title eliminator.

Last week, the fight was canceled after Ortiz suffered a fracture to his finger and his doctor advised him to stay away from training for at least four weeks.

The Cuban puncher, who is the mandatory challenger under the WBA, will wait for the outcome of next Saturday's showdown between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley.  The two of them will battle for the vacant WBA title - and the first defense will have to be made against Ortiz.

"I was training and I fractured my finger, something that I did not expect because the preparation was at an optimum level and here you see me, waiting now to recover," Ortiz told George Ebro. "I don't like to waste a single minute in my life, so I feel like a caged lion."

A few days ago on BoxingScene.com, Rossy complained that Ortiz was avoiding the fight and refused to reschedule their contest. Rossy feels Ortiz is simply looking to avoid the possibility of a risk and instead will hang back until the outcome of the Joshua-Klitschko fight.

"That's what my opponent is saying, that this is politics, that I did not want to fight because of the risk, but deep down he should be glad that this happened, because he was going to die in the ring with me," Ortiz said.