The Road to Ortiz Jr. vs. Solomon

This Friday, live from the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, CA, Golden Boy Promotions will be holding one their last events of the year,  which features rising star WBA Gold Welterweight Champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. (14-0), who will be looking to close out 2019 in a big way, defending his title against Brad “King” Solomon (28-1) .

Ortiz Jr. is a very well-known fighter amongst fans and media in the Southern California region but with DAZN picking up the smaller GBP shows that are held during the week, it will almost guarantee his exposure will dramatically increase in 2020 amongst fans and media all over the world.

In his last outing, Ortiz Jr. battled Antonio Orozco (28-1) who had never been stopped. Ortiz Jr. (under the watchful eye of trainer Robert Garcia) started off really fast but then slowed down, showed a ton of patience and great boxing IQ which led to him breaking down the very “game” Orozco leading to a sixth round knockout.

https://youtu.be/1Ysoo5w-lPo

Ortiz Jr. has to show patience against the veteran Solomon and if he does so, it may lead to an early night for his opponent. Solomon keeps his left hand really low which plays to Ortiz’ strong over hand right. Ortiz Jr. has to put “water in the basement” early which will create those big offensive opportunities to the head. Ortiz Jr. has to make sure to watch the feints and not fall into any of  Solomon’s traps.

His opponent, thirty-six year old Brad “King” Solomon whose last fight was in April of 2018 against Paddy Gallagher (13-3) , resulted in a split decision down in Louisville, Kentucky. Solomon has been inactive for almost two years which leads me to believe he will have plenty of ring rust early on in this one.

Solomon will bring a wealth of experience into the ring which is something Ortiz Jr. will continue to see as he climbs up the rankings. Solomon’s most notable win was against Adrian Granados back in 2015, which was a split decision victory.

Solomon will need to use that veteran experience to try and set up traps for the young Ortiz Jr. Doing so will allow Solomon to capitalize off Ortiz Jr. possibly being over aggressive early on as he was with Orozco in his last fight. He will also need to make things uncomfortable in there with some inside fighting and holds so that Ortiz Jr. gets out of rhythm. If Solomon can sustain that type of activity through twelve rounds, we can be in for a upset special.

With the welterweight alphabet titles predominantly belonging to fighters within the PBC camp, it is going to be interesting to see if Ortiz Jr. is able to have an opportunity at any of those in the future. This fight has all the makings of an early Christmas gift knockout for the fans of Vergil Ortiz Jr. but as we all know, this is the theater of the unexpected so anything can happen. This is what makes boxing so intriguing and what will make you tune into DAZN this Friday night!

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