"Old" and "drug cheat" are pretty straightforward, to be sure... but then "avoided" falls into that gray area, doesn't it.

If you're going to say Wilder fans are "wrong" to say Ortiz has been avoided, you'll have to do a little better than "he's fought one championship level fight in his career." Seems to me that would sort of be the whole definition of being avoided, don't you?

You can probably find plenty of articles saying Ortiz has been avoided in the past. Whether you choose to believe them or not I guess is up to you.

The only way to be sure is to "know" that X or Y fighter refused to fight him.

Oh wait... there's also the matter of promoters making ridiculous, unreasonable offers to the prospective opponent, knowing full well it will be turned down. In which case the claim can be made, "Oh, but we wanted to fight him."

But Hearn is above those games, isn't he.