Vergil Ortiz Jr. says he wanted to fight former WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov because he’s enjoyed sparring with him in the past. Ortiz Jr. (21-0, 20 KOs) describes the sparring sessions as “fun,” and he felt that it would be entertaining for the fans for the two to battle it out.
Fan-Friendly Fight
Ortiz Jr., 26, will defend his WBC interim 154-lb belt against Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs) on February 22nd on the undercard of Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2 at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The event will be shown live on DAZN PPV.
The event organizers have surprisingly placed the Vergil Jr.- Madrimov fight as the third bout on the undercard rather than in the co-feature, where it should be. They’re focusing on the UK audience by placing Daniel Dubois vs. Joseph Parker and Carlos Adames vs. Hamzah Sheeraz ahead of the Ortiz vs. Madrimov clash.
Madrimov was beaten by Terence Crawford on August 3rd in Los Angeles in a competitive fight that he could have won if he’d thrown just a few more punches in the later rounds of the contest. That’s where Crawford came on strong to win the important championship rounds with his activity.
“Madrimov is putting pressure on Crawford, and Crawford is waiting for an opening. He just got caught with a right band, though,” said Vergil Ortiz Jr. to DAZN Boxing, re-watching Israil Madrimov’s last fight against Terence Crawford from August 3rd last year.
“Madrimov is doing a good job defensively. He’s not getting hit a lot. It didn’t. I thought Crawford was going to win more decisively, but Madrimov did a really good job of taking away what Crawford does best. He had a lot of good feints. He was throwing a lot. I know Crawford was respecting his power because he [Madrimov] does hit a little hard.
“I haven’t yet, but I will,” said Vergil Jr. when asked if he’d studied this fight between Madrimov and Crawford to get ready for his clash. “The thing is, me and Crawford are two completely different fighters. Of course, I can study it but the thing is even if me and Crawford fought the same, he’s [Madrimov] going to go about it differently.
Vergil had predicted that Crawford would defeat Madrimov with ease, but it turned out to be a very close fight, with the 37-year-old barely winning. He didn’t realize how hard it would be to fight Madrimov the same way he’d done against Errol Spence in his previous bout a year earlier. Madrimov was too powerful and technically sound for Crawford to get away with the same things he’d done against the depleted car-crash-ruined Spence.
“I’ve had three or four sparring sessions with Madrimov. I remember a lot. It was a fun sparring session, and that was one of the reasons why I took the fight because it’s a hard fight, a different fight and I know the fans will be entertained with it,” said Ortiz Jr.
Vergil describes his fight with Madrimov as a “hard fight”. #BeterbievBivol2 | #RiyadhSeason | Feb 22, live on DAZN: Click link in bio to buy | @Turki_alalshikh pic.twitter.com/nDm9f6RdBF
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) February 11, 2025
Last Updated on 02/10/2025
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