It was a short night of work for Vergil Ortiz on Saturday.
The junior middleweight who fought at a catchweight of 156 pounds stopped former world title challenger Thomas Dulorme in the first round in a co-feature in Fresno, California. It was Ortiz’s second first-round knockout of the year, after he stopped Fredrick Lawson in a matter of moments back in January.
The fight was overshadowed by the news that broke earlier in the week: Ortiz is scheduled to fight Tim Tszyu on Aug. 3 in Los Angeles.
The team around Ortiz (21-0, 21 KOs) was quiet and professional in the build-up to the fight. But as soon as Dulorme had been dispatched, news of Ortiz’s next fight was already buzzing throughout the boxing world. Although Tszyu lost a split decision to Sebastian Fundora in his most recent outing, Tszyu is one of the most exciting fighters in boxing, let alone the junior middleweight division.
The belief is that Ortiz-Tszyu could be a potential fight of the year. Some are already labeling it “the real main event” of the night, over Terence Crawford-Israil Madrimov.
BoxingScene spoke with Ortiz’s father, Vergil Sr., who is his son’s trainer (among other functions) immediately after Saturday’s win. The elder Ortiz spoke about the pressure his son faced leading up to the Dulorme matchup with another big fight already on the horizon.
“Ever since Vergil was a kid, when there is pressure, he just can’t see it,” said Ortiz Sr. “Vergil always performs – no matter what, he never fails.”
After the fight, Team Ortiz began to explain how the Tszyu fight came about. Ortiz Sr. explained that the proposal had gone through him – and that he simply asked his son if he wanted to fight Tszyu. The fighter simply responded “yes,” which was all the verification needed to get the fight made.
“I actually like that fight,” Ortiz Sr. said of the Tszyu matchup. “We have been wanting that fight since Vergil was at [welterweight]. I have said it before and I will continue to say that’s a man’s fight.
“There is a difference between a fight and a boxing match. This is a man’s fight, this is a violent fight. One thing about Vergil is, you could say his expertise is violence. When you are in there, the more violent it is, the more he feels comfortable with.”
Ortiz hits like a mule and takes an almost calculated approach to crumpling opponents early in fights, so perhaps it’s no wonder he has never gone the distance as a professional.
“He prefers for it to be violent,” Ortiz Sr. said.
