By Jake Donovan

From the moment he obliterated perennial Top 10 contender Bryant Jennings to end his 2015 campaign, Luis Ortiz knew he'd be walking around with a bulls-eye on his back.

The unbeaten Cuban southpaw welcomes the attention, but is discouraged by his divisional peers offering more talk than action. His team struggled to secure a willing opponent for his March 5 headliner at D.C, Armory in Washington D.C. before landing on local heavyweight Tony Thompson.

While Ortiz is grateful for the D.C-based southpaw answering the call, the trash talk in his direction has been a little tough to swallow.

Thompson is always good for a quote or two, but doesn't always deliver in the ring. In that sense, threats of promising to "knock Ortiz the f*** out" can only make the unbeaten interim titlist chuckle.

"I believe that Tony Thompson has been smoking some real crazy stuff," Ortiz (24-0, 21KOs) told BoxingScene.com - and fairly serious in such belief. "Nobody is going to knock me the f*** out."

Saturday's fight - which airs live on HBO - is a non-title fight, due to the World Boxing Association (WBA) refusing to accept Thompson as a formidable challenger. The 44-year old southpaw is 2-3 in his last five starts, including a 10-round loss to Malik Scott in his most recent outing last October in Orlando, Florida.

In stark contrast, Ortiz is on a terrific role. His career hit a significant setback when being dealt a suspension for testing positive for a banned substance following his Sept. '14 clash with Lateef Kayode. Drug free ever since and an active participant in random testing, Ortiz returned with a vengeance last June, having scored three straight knockouts and in search of a fourth inside of nine months.

The bold boasts from his opponent has helped fuel the flames, with Ortiz looking to make a statement on his continued quest to gain universal recognition as the best heavyweight in the world.

"Tony Thompson is going to have a long and lonely walk back home," Ortiz promises. "He might not even be able to walk home."

Jake Donovan is the mananging editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox