Vergil Ortiz Jr. has suddenly become a sought-after commodity after spending years on the hunt.
The unbeaten contender has seen his name linked to several potential fights in a welterweight division with pound-for-pound level champions and a contender crop ripe with talent. The vision of soon challenging for a major title prompted Ortiz’s handlers to settle on Michael McKinson (21-0, 2KOs), an unbeaten British southpaw who is favorably ranked with the WBO where Ortiz holds the number-one contender slot.
“There’s a lot of fighters asking to fight me. They want that payday, that exposure or they want both,” Ortiz told BoxingScene.com. “If I was in their shoes, I’d want it as well. To be that guy, it’s kind of cool.”
Ortiz (18-0, 18KOs) has emerged as that guy ever since his breakthrough campaign in 2019. The unbeaten knockout artist from Grand Prairie, Texas went 4-0 (4KOs) in claiming Prospect of the Year honors, with the hopes of carrying that momentum into a 2020 campaign intended to end with a major title shot.
The pandemic slowed things down, with Ortiz fighting just once in 2020 and twice in 2021, though versus elevated competition. In his most recent bout, Ortiz—who turns 24 just days after his fight with McKinson—scored five knockdowns en route to an eighth-round stoppage of former title challenger Egidijus Kavaliauskas last August just outside his hometown in Frisco, Texas.
A January date was originally teased for Ortiz’s first fight of 2022. Those plans were shifted to line up with Golden Boy Promotions nailing down final details for the event, which takes place at USC Galen Center in Los Angeles. Even a two-month delay should still leave Ortiz with room to face at least some of the names on the growing list of contenders and champions who claim to want to get him in the ring.
“I hope so. That’s always the goal, I want to fight as many times as possible,” insists Ortiz. “I don’t want to waste any time not fighting, you don’t get that time back.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox