Vergil Ortiz believes his fight could steal the quality-packed February 22 show in Saudi Arabia.
The junior middleweight contender meets Israil Madrimov in a mouth-watering clash on the undercard of the 175lbs unification fight between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. Ortiz, fresh off his Fight of the Year contender with Serhii Bohachuk, is ready for the trenches once more.
“I welcome any challenge,” said Ortiz, who was even in negotiations for a fight with Boots Ennis between Bohachuk and Madrimov. “I’m very grateful to be on this card. We want to fight the best. I don’t care who it is. I want to be a throwback fighter, like those fighters we used to watch on HBO Boxing. I want to be in those classic fights. That’s the goal.
“This is gonna be a classic fight for sure. I feel like this fight has the potential to steal the night and I’m very excited for it. I’m very motivated. Madrimov is an elite fighter and I’m excited to share the ring with him.”
Madrimov is coming off the only loss of his career after a good fight with Terence Crawford in August. The fighters have sparred before, and using that as a gauge, Ortiz is predicting fireworks.
“I learned a lot, I’m sure he did too,” said Ortiz. “That’s why I’m saying, I know it’s going to be a really fan-friendly fight.”
It is one of two fights on the bill that pits fighters from Golden Boy against boxers from Matchroom. Ortiz, along with Floyd Schofield, fights under Oscar De La Hoya’s promotional umbrella, while Madrimov and Shakur Stevenson box for Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom.
Schofield was not present at today’s press conference in London.
There has been no love lost between Hearn and De La Hoya in recent months.
“We, as promoters, always want our fighters to win, but more importantly we want to give the fight fans the best fights,” said De La Hoya, himself a Hall of Fame fighter.
“I always think like a fighter first and obviously to be great, you have to fight great fighters. You have to fight the very best. Having said that, I want to thank the fighters here first. To get every single fighter here to agree to these fights? On paper, these are 50-50 fights. Shakur Stevenson, he’s one of the best fighters on the planet facing one of the top fighters coming up on the planet, so that shows you greatness. He wants to be the very best. Vergil Ortiz is proving once again that he is the best. Fighting Madrimov after fighting Bohachuk? I mean, who does that? So, every single fighter here, congratulations and congratulations on having the kahunas to take these kind of fights.”
Stevenson promised to “beat up” Schofield on February 22.
“He’s definitely made a mistake,” said Newark’s Stevenson. “He’s a good young fighter, a hungry fighter, but I hope he still takes the fight. I’m kinda worried cos he’s not here. I was excited to see him. Don’t get butterflies and pull out the fight. I know it’s hard. I know you’re dealing with a lot. But just show up.”
Read the full article here
