Ortiz Jr. vs. Madrimov: Can “Little GGG” debunk the hype?

WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. says he immediately agreed to fight Israil Madrimov after Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis decided not to fight him on the February 22 card in Riyadh.

Vergil Jr. must not be involved in another controversial decision going his way because it looked bad for him to win a controversial decision in his last fight against Serhii Bohachuk. If he gets too many, it will limit his star power.

It takes care of low output

Madrimov has the skills and power to make this fight difficult for Ortiz Jr., but he doesn’t land a lot of punches, which would make Vergil Jr. should be given a significant advantage. He is much busier.

In Madrimov’s loss to Terence Crawford, he didn’t throw enough in the championship rounds and was outmatched. It was a winnable fight, but he let Crawford get the better of him despite having less strength, size and youth. Terence only wanted it more. Vergil Jr. and his team probably saw Madrimov’s low performance, which could be one of the reasons why they agreed to fight him. It can be strained.

Ortiz Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs) states that it “motivates” him in training camp when he prepares to fight a good opponent. However, he has only fought one good opponent during his nine-year career, beating WBC interim 154lb champion Bohachuk by a highly questionable 12-round majority decision on August 10 last year in Las Vegas.

Vergil was taken down twice by Bohachuk, hitting the deck in the first and eighth. He protested the first knockdown, saying it was a slip, but replays showed it was a knockdown.

Many boxing fans had the defeat of Vergil and felt that he was given a decision over the Ukrainian fighter. Ortiz Jr. he received a lot of criticism from people when he decided not to give Bohachuk a rematch to clear up the controversy. Turki Al-Sheikh could insist that he fight, and Vergil Jr. would probably be. That never happened, so now Vergil moves on followed by a dark cloud.

Aside from Bohačuk, Virgil’s only other significant win on his resume came against Egidio
Kavaliauskas. He was staggered at the beginning of the fight, but somehow survived and scored a knockout in the eighth round.

Can Madrimov win?

“It’s a big fight on paper. He just had a great fight against Crawford. He was very good. Even though he lost, it’s not a performance to be ashamed of. He was great,” said Vergil Ortiz Jr talkSport Boxing on Israil Madrimov’s recent loss to Terence Crawford on August 3rd.

“We wanted to fight ‘Boots’, but the fight fell through. So I was thinking, ‘Am I still fighting for the ticket?’ It was kind of up in the air, and then my dad called me, ‘Would you fight Madrimov?’ I said, ‘Yes, I would. It’s a great fight.’ The reason I said he is is because he is a tough fighter.

“I am a very competitive person. It motivates me in training when I know that I have a tough fight ahead of me. It keeps me focused. I know there’s a lot at stake (against Madrimov), but I like it. It raises the adrenaline,” Vergil Jr. said.

This will be Vergil’s second good opponent in his career, and it will be interesting to see how well he performs. ‘Little GGG’ Madrimov can punch with both hands and has excellent boxing skills. Again, he doesn’t have high output, and his durability is on the low side. He gassed against Crawford in the championship rounds.

Ennis Ducks?

“Can we talk about Boots for a moment as you two have been having a bit of an argument,” Gareth A. Davies said to Vergil Jr. about what happened to the no fight between him and Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis. “It’s a fight we all want to see. There are about 40 fights between the two of you. Do you feel like (Ennis) is avoiding you? There are arguments about weight and all that.”

“I don’t think he’s avoiding me. “I think someone on the team is lying,” Ortiz Jr. said. about his belief that someone on Ennis’ team was not telling the truth. “As boxers, we are not the ones who negotiate. We don’t communicate. We have managers for a reason.

“I’m not saying it’s his manager because so many people come into the game. I can’t say who it is because I don’t know who it is. All I know is on our side, we said, ‘Yes.’ I believe so. It’s a fight that has to happen,” Ortiz Jr. said when asked if he believed he would eventually fight Jaron Ennis.