Add junior middleweight fight between former champion Tim Tszyu (24-1, 17 KOs), 29, and Vergil Ortiz Jr. (20-0, 20 KOs),26 to an already loaded card for Aug. 3 in Los Angeles.
But first Ortiz must defeat major underdog Thomas Dulorme on Saturday and emerge uninjured. The fight will serve as the co-feature on a card headlined by a junior welterweight clash between Jose Ramirez and Rances Barthelemy in Fresno, California.
Tszyu vs. Ortiz is going to be war and will provide none stop action. Obviously this fight has fight of the year potential
The fight will be part of the Terence Crawford-Israil Madrimov undercard. Tszyu-Ortiz joins the Issac Cruz-Jose Valenzuela junior welterweight title fight and Andy Ruiz-Jarrell Miller heavyweight bout on the undercard.
Tszyu recently suffered his first loss in March, a split decision vs. Sebastian Fundora. Tszyu, suffered a deep gash on his hairline in Round 2 following an accidental elbow. Undoubtedly the cut affected his vision the remainder of the bout. However he still was the aggressor in the fight.
The former champion was set to fight Keith Thurman initially. But was forced to adjust to the 6-foot-6 Fundora on 11 days’ notice. Wasting no time getting back in the ring, Tszyu will return to fight a dangerous finisher in Ortiz, who owns a 100% KO ratio.
Ortiz made his 154-pound debut in January with a first round TKO win against the overmatched Fredrick Lawson. That return got Ortiz back in the since 2022. Since March 2022, Ortiz has withdrawn from three fights due to health issues related to rhabdomyolysis, a condition that occurs when damaged muscle tissue releases its proteins and electrolytes into the blood.
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