Vertil Ortiz Jr. responded on social media to Ryan Garcia’s volunteering to step in as Tim Tszyu’s replacement opponent for the August 3rd card in Los Angeles, saying that he’s given his manager the “green light” for the fight to take place.
Ortiz, 26, needs an opponent to replace his originally scheduled fight against former WBO junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu, who had to back out of the card due to his cut still healing from his March 30h fight against Sebastian Fundora.
It was a bad idea from the start to choose Tszyu as the opponent for Vergil Jr.’s fight on August 3rd because the cut was too bad to be healed in that short period.
Assuming it’s allowed to happen, Ryan (25-1, 20 KOs) would be moving up from welterweight to junior middleweight to face the unbeaten Vergil Ortiz (21-0, 21 KOs) on the undercard of Terence Crawford vs. Israil Madrimov at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
Doubts About Ryan Garcia’s Availability
Boxing expert Dan Rafael doesn’t see it as possible for Ryan, 25, to take the fight with Vergil Jr. because of his likely suspension due to his positive PED test for the banned substance Ostarine last April. As Rafael points out, if Ryan is given a suspension by the New York commission, California won’t let him take the fight.
@RyanGarcia I got a call saying you wanna step in and replace Tim, I already gave my manager @RGMPROMO the green light to make it happen 💯 Let’s make this happen Ryan don’t let me down!! I’ll see you Aug 3rd 🤝🏼
— Vergil Ortiz Jr. (@VergilOrtiz) May 31, 2024
It’s uncertain who Vergil Ortiz Jr. can fight to stay on this card, as there’s not much time for a top-level fighter to be found before August 3rd. Ortiz Jr. is too dangerous for one of the popular contenders to step in on short notice because it’s too risky.
If His Excellency Turki Alalshikh throws a ton of money at one of the top-tier contenders at 154, they might get one of them to step in as a replacement.
That’s the likely only way they’ll get one of the top guys to agree to fight on August 3rd. Ortiz Jr. is too good a fighter. Also, he’s with Golden Boy Promotions, which complicates things if they can get one of the other fighters promoted by a different company to step in.
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