Vergil Ortiz Jr. Has Officially Reached The Next Level

Ortiz won a couple of the early rounds, but after the sixth, Ortiz’s trainer, Robert Garcia, urged Ortiz to throw more punches as he felt Madrimov was tired from all the moving around and body shots earlier in the fight. That’s when Ortiz began to pour it on. Ortiz’s left hooks to the body forced Madrimov to take exaggerated deep breaths, and the fight quickly turned for the Dallas native. Once Ortiz realized that Madrimov’s poker face was no longer there, the combinations increased, and it appeared Ortiz began getting stronger late in the fight. He hurt Madrimov several times late in the fight, but credit goes to the Uzbeki, who stood tough and weathered the storm.

Ultimately, all three judges had it for Ortiz: 117-111, 115-113 & 115-113. The fight was close, as the 115-113 scorecards reflected, but it was clear that Ortiz won the fight and the right man was awarded the decision victory. More importantly, Ortiz showed grit, patience, poise, and determination throughout the fight against an opponent who gave top pound-for-pound Crawford all he could handle six months ago.

Ortiz is Now Ready For The Other Champions At 154

Ortiz has been pegged as the next big thing for Golden Boy ever since his prospect days fighting out of the Belasco Theater in downtown Los Angeles. The issue early on was that whenever he reached a point to get a world title opportunity, he would outgrow the division and be forced to move up in weight.

After beating Egidijus “Mean Machine” Kavaliauskas, Ortiz said he was ready for a fight with Crawford. His promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, said he would look to make the fight happen, but for one reason or the other, it never did. Call it what you want to call it, but the right decision was not to make the fight because Ortiz wasn’t ready for a Crawford fight at that moment. Maybe the fighter in De La Hoya realized it hence why it did not come to fruition.

After going through some fight week illnesses that led to Ortiz pulling out of fights, he made a move to junior middleweight and, in August, earned a tough majority decision over Serhii Bohachuk. That night, Ortiz battled back from being knocked down twice in the fight to pull out the victory. It was a tough night at the office for Ortiz but he still wasn’t at the next level.

That experience prepared him for the Madrimov fight, and he was able to put it all together and finally show why his promoter and fans never gave up on him. Ortiz is as tough as they come, and with the junior middleweight division being filled with top contenders, there will be some big matchups in the immediate future for him.

What’s Next For Vergil Ortiz Jr.?

Ortiz has some intriguing options as he looks at potentially one of the other champions at 154. There is Sebastian Fundora who holds two pieces of the junior middleweight division’s titles. He will be defending them against Chordale Booker in March, and if successful, he will be forced to face either Xander Zayas (#1 in the WBO) or Bohachuk (#1 in the WBC).

Ortiz could go after IBF champion Bakhram Murtazaliev, who hasn’t fought since destroying Tim Tszyu in October. Another option could be an all-Texas showdown with Jermell Charlo or Errol Spence Jr ., but neither has shown any clear indication that they are coming back to fight any time soon. Golden Boy could look within their house and match Ortiz up with Charles Conwell, but something tells me that is a fight they will let marinate before getting signed.

The point is that Ortiz is ready for anyone in the division, and having two hard back-to-back fights against high-level competition has forced him to level up, which will make things interesting for any big fight at 154 he is involved in.