By Keith Idec

Derric Rossy went to the gym to train Monday morning, as if he hadn’t learned Friday that his fight against former heavyweight champion Luis Ortiz was canceled.

The veteran heavyweight hopes Ortiz “owns up to his commitment” and wants to make sure he remains ready if their 10-round fight is rescheduled. Rossy accepted a difficult fight against Ortiz on less than a month’s notice, but the Cuban-born Ortiz suffered a thumb injury in sparring Wednesday and his handlers decided it wasn’t wise to face a capable opponent like Rossy if Ortiz is injured.

Their fight was supposed to be broadcast on SHO Extreme as part of the Shawn Porter-Andre Berto undercard Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

“When I first got wind of it being canceled, I was completely crushed because I was ready, I was eager and I’m hungry for it,” Rossy told krikya360.com. “The first thing I want is for it to be rescheduled. I wanna make sure that this guy owns up to his commitment. At one point, he said that I had enough balls to get in the ring with him. Now I want him to show that he has enough balls to get in the ring with me.”

The 38-year-old Ortiz (27-0, 23 KOs, 2 NC) could just wait for his injury to heal and head toward a title shot in his next fight. The strong southpaw is the WBA’s mandatory challenger for the winner of the Anthony Joshua-Wladimir Klitschko heavyweight title fight April 29 at Wembley Stadium in London.

Rossy (31-12, 15 KOs), of Medford, New York, gets the sense Ortiz will avoid rescheduling their bout because Ortiz and his handlers could view it as more risk than it’s worth with a title shot looming.

Three fights ago, the 36-year-old Rossy floored former WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne (25-2-1, 21 KOs) in the first round before losing a 10-round unanimous decision 17 months ago in Las Vegas. The former Boston College football player also was competitive with then-unbeaten German contender Erkan Teper (16-2, 10 KOs), who defeated Rossy by unanimous decision in their 10-rounder July 3 in Luneberg, Germany.

“You can see the politics behind it,” Rossy said. “You can see where him fighting someone like me can run the risk of making him look bad or he could possibly lose. He has a future to look after, so from that standpoint I can understand that. But from a boxing standpoint, it’s wrong.

“I don’t think it would do him any good to not reschedule this fight. First of all, everyone in boxing knows I can fight. So I think it’s a real test for him to fight me. I think it’s a great matchup. And I think it’s a test of his character to see if he’ll try to remake this fight. It’s not that I don’t think he’s a great fighter. I have much respect for him. But at the same time, I think someone like me can really give him a problem.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.