American heavyweight Deontay Wilder called out fellow world champion Anthony Joshua immediately after retaining his WBC title with a 10th round stoppage of Cuba's Luis Ortiz on Saturday night.
Wilder, 32, recovered from a seventh-round scare against 38-year-old Ortiz to extend his perfect professional record to 40 wins with 39 knockouts.
After a seventh successful defence of his world title, Wilder reiterated his desire for a unification bout with IBF, WBA and IBO holder Joshua, who fights WBO champion Joseph Parker in Cardiff on March 31.
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"I am ready right now. I want to unify. I am ready whenever those guys are," Wilder said after his victory at the at Barclays Center arena in New York.
Wilder did most of the damage Saturday with his right hand, landing some heavy blows that would have knocked out lesser skilled opponents. But Ortiz proved to be a crafty counter-puncher with better boxing skills than Wilder.
Late in the fifth round Wilder knocked Ortiz down by landing a straight right hand on the nose of the challenger. Sensing he had Ortiz in trouble, Wilder bolted forward and landed another right to the side of Ortiz's head that put him down on the canvas. Ortiz got up and was saved by the bell before Wilder could do any more damage.
He then wobbled Ortiz again with right hand one round later before Ortiz got his revenge in the seventh.
Ortiz scored with a right hook-left combination and followed it with a barrage of rights and lefts as Wilder stumbled around the ring ducking and trying to hold on.
Wilder managed to stay on his feet but it took him another couple rounds to shake off the cobwebs and score the TKO win late in the 10th.
"He hit me with flurry of punches but it wasn't hard. He knocked me off balance. I just had to get my fundamentals back and I did," Wilder said.
"I figured out a way to come back. A true champion always finds a way. That's what I did tonight."
