Vergil Ortiz Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs) believes his fight against Israil Madrimov has an excellent chance to “Steal the show” tonight in their 12-round bout for Vergil’s WBC interim junior middleweight title in Riyadh. It’s seen as a 50-50 match by many fans. If Vergil Jr. goes to war with ‘Little GGG’ Madrimov tonight, he may live to regret it.
Ortiz Jr., 26, had problems overpowering his last opponent, Serhii Bohachuk. He discovered he couldn’t get away with fighting the same way he had at welterweight against the limited opposition his promoters had matched him against. He never fought anyone remotely talented at 147, so it wasn’t a shock to see him get knocked down twice by Bohachuk and almost beaten.
Show Stealer?
Indeed, Ortiz Jr.-Madrimov could easily upstage the fights placed above them on tonight’s card. What makes this fight more interesting is that these two will come to fight, and it won’t be a boxing match.
Madrimov knows from his recent loss to Terence Crawford that he can’t afford to hold back and waste time using constant feints. He’s got to meet Vergil Jr. in the center of the ring and let his hands go. That was a learning experience for Madrimov, and it made him realize that he can’t just focus on trying to outbox his opponents like he’d done during his amateur career.
He’s got to use his power game, which is more than enough to beat 99% of the fighters in the 154-lb division. That’s why it was a mistake on Madrimov’s part not to focus on that in his fight against Crawford. He had a big advantage in power in that fight and snapped the older, weaker fighter’s head back repeatedly with shots.
Against Ortiz Jr, ‘Little GGG’ Madrimov will need to go after him and match him punch-for-punch to get the win. With Vergil Jr’s youth and A-side popularity, you’ve got to imagine that if the rounds are close, the judges will side with him as they did in his fight against Bohachuk. Ortiz Jr. is the more marketable fighter, and that matters when it comes to scoring rounds. We see it all the time.
“I feel like this is where I’m supposed to be,” said Vergil Ortiz Jr. to DAZN Boxing “I feel 100% ready physically, mentally, and emotionally. Everyone has chinks in their armor. I’m not Crawford. So different ones will come up for me, and it’ll be up to me to expose them,” said Vergil Jr. “It has the potential [to be ‘Fight of the Year’], and it has the potential to steal the show, too.”
Last Updated on 02/22/2025
Read the full article here
