Vergil Ortiz Jr. emerged on social media today after 11 days of quiet following his controversial twelve-round majority decision over WBC interim junior middleweight champion Serhii Bohachuk on August 10th in Las Vegas.
Unrealistic Expectations
Ortiz lacks the popularity to get any of the three fighters on his wishlist for his next fight. He needs to build his name up by defending his WBC interim 154-lb belt against fighters like Charles Conwell, Erickson Lubin, and Xander Zayas before he gets these ideas to battle the popular fighters.
Right now, Vergil is putting the cart before the horse, calling out fighters out of his league popularity-wise after his controversial win over Bohachuk. What he should do is clear up the controversy.
Not surprisingly, Vergil is not interested in giving Bohachuk a rematch to erase the controversy surrounding their fight. Given the punishment Vergil took in that fight, he’d be a fool ever to fight Bohachuk again. He’s all wrong for Vergil.
Ortiz’s Ambitious Wishlist
- Terence Crawford
- Errol Spence Jr.
- Sebastian Fundora
We already knew Vergil wanted Crawford next because he made sure he called him out inside the ring after the fight. It’s unclear if Vergil has been in the hospital for the last ten days since that fight because he’s only now continuing to discuss a match between him and Crawford.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like any of those fights will be next for Vergil, but if he waits long enough, one could happen in eight to twelve months. His Excellency Turki Alalshikh already said that he doesn’t think Crawford will agree to fight Vergil Jr because he wants Canelo Alvarez. But if he can’t land the Canelo fight for Crawford, maybe he’ll take the next best option.
Errol Spence Jr. and WBC/WBO 154-lb champion Sebastian Fundora are expected to fight before the end of the year. So, if Vergil wants to fight one of them, it must be in the first half of 2025. He wants to fight the Texan Spence because they could potentially battle at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, but not if Errol loses to Fundora.
If Fundora is victorious against Spence, he’ll probably go in the direction of a fight against Tim Tszyu or Crawford. Those are well-paying fights for Fundora, and he’ll make a lot more money against either of those guys than he would against Vergil, who isn’t very popular.
Top 3 fighters who I would love the chance to run it against
1. @terencecrawford
2. @ErrolSpenceJr
3. @SebastianFundo1All talented fighters. No disrespect here, I just wanna prove myself against the best 💪🏼💯
— Vergil Ortiz Jr. (@VergilOrtiz) August 21, 2024
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