Vergil Ortiz Jr: A Superstar in the Making

This Friday live on DAZN, Golden Boy Promotions fighter Vergil Ortiz Jr (15-0) will be making his 2020 debut, in the main event, when he faces the Colombian veteran Samuel Vargas (31-5-2) in a twelve rounds (or fewer) bout.

This will be the first show that both GBP and DAZN put together after the mandatory quarantine period that most of the country participated in.  The event will be at the Fantasy Spring Casino in Indio, CA and will be held with no fans in attendance.

The 22-year-old Vergil Ortiz Jr. has been part of many conversations throughout the boxing world since going pro in July 2016, and rightfully so, as he’s demonstrated a high level skill set in such a short period of time. In case you didn’t know, he is trained by Robert Garcia and works with the likes of Jose Ramirez and Mikey Garcia within the confines of RGBA.

Show of hands, who likes Vargas in the upset? Anyone? We will wait…

The first time I saw Ortiz fight live was February 2018 at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, CA. It was that fight against Jesus Alvarez Rodriguez that told me I was possibly looking at someone with a ton of potential. Ortiz Jr. was scheduled for a primetime spot on ESPN four months later. In that fight, he jumped on the opportunity to be on national tv by putting on the type of performance that makes you remember his name. From that point forward, I let anyone who would listen know that this kid was going to be something special.

After that performance, Ortiz Jr. kept on winning impressively and caught the attention of Everlast, who now sponsors him, and they showcase him as one of their athletes alongside Errol Spence Jr., Deontay Wilder and Terence Crawford.

The Texan aims the Everlast mitts during a pad-work session.

Fast forward to recent months, Oscar De la Hoya most famously threw his name in the middle of a war of words with his other star fighter Ryan Garcia. This led to Ortiz Jr. getting the main event slot Friday and will showcase his talents once again to a much larger viewing audience.

His opponent, Samuel Vargas, has been in the ring with some talented fighters like Luis Collazo, Amir Khan, Danny Garcia and Errol Spence Jr., which will give Ortiz Jr. the type of experience he is looking for in order to continue to rise within the welterweight rankings.

Let’s just say for a second that Ortiz Jr. comes out victorious on Friday night; who could he potentially face next? It’s hard to say because the top five guys in the championship rankings are either from PBC or international fighters that no one has seen here in the U.S.

A fight that I would like to see and Ortiz Jr. has also admitted to being intrigued by, in several interviews, would be a match against Terence Crawford. That match could potentially be one that is considered a super fight in the future.

And this one, Texan vs Texan, start of 2022, how does that strike you?

To build towards that, Ortiz Jr. has to continue to win impressively while also luring some of those PBC welterweights to fight him.

My Three Cents: Vergil Ortiz Jr. is going to capitalize on the opportunity of being on a DAZN main event and the first show for them post quarantine. He will display that disciplined body work and ring generalship that has the boxing experts buzzing. Vergil Ortiz Jr. has all of the skills to become a star and on Friday night, you will see exactly why.

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