The Online Drama Between Vergil Ortiz Jr & Xander Zayas Is What’s Wrong With Boxing

Ortiz quote tweeted and said, “What exactly is so unfavorable about the offer? It’s 50/50. You have time to recover and train for December. And it would be in neutral territory. Don’t run away now, you’ve had 3 days to agree, and we haven’t heard a thing from your side!” Zayas would go on Instagram and, within his comments, agree with someone who said that the fight shouldn’t be 50/50 because Zayas is the full champion in this scenario.

Zayas is the full WBO champion, but he isn’t exactly a household name. Neither is Ortiz Jr., however, his name is more recognizable when you think of the fans here domestically. Taking a single data point on Google Trends for the last 12 months, you can see that although Zayas has been trending more on the East Coast, Ortiz has been trending throughout the rest of the country. This is not intended to sway the conversation in any way, but using a tool most companies use for comparative analysis, it appears that with this one data point, Ortiz could have even asked for the percentage to be in his favor, but didn’t.

Going back to the beginning of this column, this is everything that is wrong with the sport. These two fighters are going back and forth online, and in the end, they’ll fight different opponents. Although he is Ortiz’s promoter, Oscar De La Hoya expressed some frustration on Sunday with regard to the topic and made some valid points.

“You keep saying you want to go to Puerto Rico(for your 1st defense)….HOW?!? Your promoter has no TV (deal) whatsoever. Where are you going to fight?…F*CKING ONLYFANS?! We have DAZN, we have the PPV, we have the date…Mexico vs Puerto Rico. It’s huge! What are you waiting for?!”

De La Hoya isn’t wrong; it is a big fight, and Top Rank currently lacks a media rights home. So, who would host the event if it were to take place in Puerto Rico? This is where things have to make sense; if Zayas and his team don’t want the fight right now, they should say so instead of posting emails and going the extra mile to make a point.

Yes, fans these days are into online drama and the occasional peek behind the curtain, but at the end of the day, they just want to see the fights that make the most sense. Ortiz vs. Zayas is a huge fight that makes sense now, but because it’s boxing, we won’t likely get it until 3 or 4 years from now, when they are both at middleweight or super middleweight. Welcome to boxing in 2025.