Vergil Ortiz Jr. still believes that a fight between he and former junior middleweight titleholder Tim Tszyu will still happen.
Ortiz and Tszyu were due to fight on the blockbuster Terence Crawford-Israil Madrimov card on Aug. 3, but Tszyu had to withdraw due to the cut he suffered against Sebastian Fundora on March 30 not healing properly. Tszyu lost his WBO title to Fundora that night, with many blaming the cut for the defeat.
Shortly after the loss, Tszyu signed to take on Ortiz in a blockbuster fight between the two best young contenders in the division. Ortiz will now take on Serhii Bohachuk for the WBC interim title, but he still expects to face Tszyu in the near future.
“Of course [the fight with Tszyu will happen],” Ortiz told Fight Hub TV. “Not looking past this hard-ass fight I’ve got in front of me, it still happens – it’s going to happen. We were going to take the Tim [Tszyu] fight even after he lost because we know it’s a good fight. Just because he lost it doesn’t take away from him as a fighter. If I lose this one – not saying I am, but God forbid it does happen – that fight with Tim is still going to happen.”
The proposed fight between Tszyu and Ortiz on the huge Aug. 3 card in Los Angeles was one of the most talked about matchups of the event. The two fighters’ fan-friendly styles meant that viewers were expecting a potential fight of the night on the mouth-watering card. Ortiz agrees believes, along with many others, that when he and Tszyu eventually meet in the ring, it will be an all-time classic encounter.
“It’s [going to be] one of those classic HBO fights, you know what I mean?” Ortiz said. "You go watch it and it’s like a throwback HBO fight. It’s going to be a good fight. You got to go in there with that mentality that it’s going to be hard. Just in case it is hard, you’re ready for it.”
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