Vergil Ortiz Jr. believes he’s got an excellent chance of fighting Errol Spence Jr. at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, in 2025 if they both win their upcoming fights this year.
(Credit: Golden Boy / Cris Esqueda)
Upcoming Challenges for Ortiz Jr. and Spence
The unbeaten Ortiz Jr. (21-0, 21 KOs) must beat WBC interim junior middleweight champion Serhii Bohachuk (24-1, 23 KOs) on August 10th at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.
For his part, Spence (28-1, 22 KOs needs to defeat WBC/WBO 154-lb champion Sebastian Fundora if that fight happens. That match hasn’t yet been negotiated, but they’ll fight later this year unless one changes their mind.
Ortiz, 26, also wants to fight Terence Crawford in 2025, believing that match will happen. He thinks Crawford will defeat WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov on August 3rd without any issues.
Terence hasn’t spoken of wanting to fight Ortiz. He wants to move up to 168 to challenge Canelo Alvarez for his undisputed super middleweight championship. That fight will make a lot more money than a match against Ortiz.
“I think the fight that makes that happen is the Spence fight. If he gets through Fundora and he’s healthy, we can run it at Cowboy Stadium,” said Vergil Ortiz Jr. to the media about his belief that a fight with Errol Spence Jr. is possible next year.
Ortiz Jr.’s Defensive Concerns
Vergil Jr. is banking on the fights with Spence and Crawford happening next year, but there’s a real possibility that all three will lose their next fights. Bohachuk, 29, is a much better fighter than anyone Ortiz has fought during his career, and he will take advantage of his leaky defense.
Ortiz was hurt early in his fight against Egidijus Kavaliauskas in August 2021, and the only reason he made it out of that fight without getting stopped is because he gassed out.
Ortiz’s three fights since then have been against marginal opposition, Michael McKinson, Fredrick Lawson, and Thomas Dulorme.
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