Joshua beat Wladimir Klitschko in April to add the WBA belt to his existing IBF title with a brilliant 11th-round stoppage.
The Ukrainian had since been considering activating a rematch clause but yesterday announced that at the age of 41, he had decided to hang up his gloves.
His departure from the scene leaves Joshua’s next fight up in the air as November 11 had already been “pencilled in” by the heavyweight’s team for Joshua v Klitschko 2.
The 20,000-capacity T-Mobile Arena had even been sounded out as a venue with a Las Vegas date said to be important to Joshua’s image in the US.
But now the world champion has been told by the WBA that as of yesterday, he has 30 days to agree a fight with Ortiz or the bout will be called for purse bids.
Ortiz is a 29-fight unbeaten heavyweight with 23 knockouts on his record and is ranked as the No1 WBA challenger.
The Cuban is a former interim heavyweight champion, a title he won by beating Matias Ariel Vidondo in New York two years ago, but has never been granted a full world shot.
But he now appears to be in line for a world championship fight which is likely to take place in England despite Ortiz’s relative inexperience outside of the Americas.
The 38-year-old had never fought on this side of the Atlantic until November 2016, when he beat Malik Scott in Monaco.
However, he then faced David Allen in Manchester on the Joshua v Molina undercard, his first ever bout in the UK, a move that suggests he will be willing to face “AJ” on home soil.
But booking the fight will be complicated by the insistence of the IBF, who govern Joshua’s other belt, that the champion faces their mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev.
The Hungarian’s only career defeat came against Klitschko in 2014 and he has since claimed the European and WBA Inter-Continental titles with five wins.
Joshua’s management are understood to have spoken with Pulev’s people last night and are aiming for Cardiff’s Principality Stadium as a venue instead of Las Vegas.
