By Keith Idec

NEW YORK – One of Luis Ortiz’s promoters thinks the unbeaten Cuban knockout artist could be in for a more difficult fight Saturday night than the extremely long odds suggest.

Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions’ senior vice president/matchmaker, has seen veteran southpaw Tony Thompson spoil plans in the past. Though 44 years old and 2-3 in his past five fights, Gomez expects the 6-foot-5, 265-pound Thompson to test the 6-4, 240-pound Ortiz in their HBO “Boxing After Dark” main event Saturday night at D.C. Armory in Washington, D.C.

“He’s game,” Gomez said of Thompson. “He’s a veteran. He’s a game guy. He knows how to survive. He knows how to sneak up on you. So he can probably just sit back and look for that one lucky punch.

“You never know what you’re gonna get with Thompson. He has beat some pretty impressive guys. He can fight. It’s not like he’s a total opponent. He’s dangerous. That’s what I try to explain sometimes to a lot the media and fans. Those are the most dangerous fighters. Those are the most dangerous fighters because he’s got nothing to lose. He’s supposed to lose.”

Thompson, a Washington native, lost a 10-round unanimous decision to Philadelphia’s Malik Scott (38-2-1, 13 KOs) in his last fight, October 30 in Orlando, Florida. Thompson dropped Scott in the first round, but Scott came back to win on all three scorecards (95-94, 96-93 and 98-91).

Within the past 2½ years, though, Thompson (40-6, 27 KOs) has beaten Cuban Odlanier Solis (20-3, 13 KOs) and England’s David Price (19-3, 16 KOs) twice apiece. He defeated Solis by split decision in their first fight and stopped him in their rematch. Thompson beat the previously undefeated Price by technical knockout in both of their bouts.

The 36-year-old Ortiz (24-0, 21 KOs, 2 NC) scored the most impressive victory of his career in his last fight, a seventh-round technical knockout against Philadelphia’s Bryant Jennings (19-2, 10 KOs) on December 19 in Verona, New York. Ortiz accepted Thompson as his opponent just four weeks ago, however, and has faced only one southpaw, Puerto Rico’s Alex Gonzales (20-9, 10 KOs), in recent years. 

“It’s hard to come off that great win he had in December against a southpaw, Gomez said. “He wasn’t getting ready for a southpaw. He had to adjust his training camp the last couple weeks to get ready for a southpaw. That can cause problems. You know, it’s hard to fight a southpaw, and he hasn’t fought a southpaw in a while [since November 2013].”

HBO’s broadcast is scheduled to begin at 10 p.m. ET on Saturday night with a 12-round WBO welterweight title fight. Brooklyn’s Sadam Ali (22-0, 13 KOs) and Las Vegas’ Jessie Vargas (26-1, 9 KOs) are set to square off for that vacant 147-pound crown.

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.