Bernard Hopkins says Vergil Ortiz Jr. will “outsmart” Israil Madrimov to defeat him in their fight in Riyadh on Saturday night. Ortiz Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs) will defend his WBC interim junior middleweight title against the former amateur star Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs) in a 12-round fight that many fans view as a 50-50 contest.
(Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchoom)
The punishment that Ortiz Jr. absorbed in his fight against Serhii Bohachuk last August has changed his mindset about how he goes into fights now. He realizes that he can’t overpower his opposition at 154 like he’d been doing when he first got there, and he destroys a couple of journeymen by first-round knockouts.
Vergil Jr. doesn’t want to use the same approach he used in the Bohachuk fight against Madrimov because he hits too hard, and he’ll outbox him. However, if he tries to box instead of brawl, Vergil could be playing into Madrimov’s hands. Vergil was able to get away with boxing Bohachuk in the championship rounds because he lacked speed, and he was shooting for a knockout.
Madrimov lost his last fight against Terence Crawford on August 3rd because he failed to do enough in the latter part of the fight when the match was still up for grabs. He can’t make that same mistake against Vergil Jr. and expect to win because he can do everything that Crawford can.
Ortiz’s Intellect
“I’m a big fan of this man here because he’s all power and he’s destruction,” said Sergio Mora to Golden Boy Boxing about Vergil Ortiz Jr. “What a lot of people don’t give him credit for is intelligence. You have to be intelligent with that pressure that Ortiz puts on you.
“He finds a way out whenever he’s having issues with movers like he did against [Michael] McKinson. Yes, McKinson went into the second half of the fight. He figured him out [Egidijus] Kavaliauskas, who put him down, was fighting at angles. He was able to find a way there,” said Mora.
“Vergil is going to outsmart him, and he’s going to continue to keep that space between them where he can work that jab,” said Bernard Hopkins. “Oscar knows how to work that jab.”
That would be quite a feat for Vergil Ortiz Jr. to outsmart Madrimov because he’s not been the type of fighter who relied on his ring IQ to win fights throughout his career. Vergil Jr. has always used his power and size to win at 147 and 154.
His last fight against Serhii Bohachuk was the first time in his career that he couldn’t run over with power, and he had to box in the championship rounds to get the victory. It was a controversial win for Ortiz Jr, but he got it and moved on.
“Smart jab, jab, and on your toes,” said De La Hoya. “Handle the bull. This is a big, big card. It might be one of the biggest of all time. It really is. You take a look at the past fights, like the Don King cards when you had Mike Tyson, Trinidad, and Julio Cesar Chavez.
Last Updated on 02/20/2025
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