Vergil Ortiz Jr. (born March 25, 1998) is an American

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

who has held the WBO International

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify the ...

title since 2021. As an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

, he was a seven-time national champion and was the winner at the 2013 Junior Olympics. He was named 2019

The Ring magazine Prospect of the Year '' The Ring'' magazine was established in 1922 and has named a Prospect of the Year since 1983. The award is given to a boxer who has the most potential to become a future star in the sport, as based on the magazine's writers' criteria. In 1989 th ...

. Ortiz is known for his punching power, with a

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

-to-win percentage of 100%. As of August 2022, Ortiz Jr is ranked as the world's fifth best welterweight by '' The Ring'' and fourth best by

BoxRec BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopaedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every profess ...

and TBRB.

Professional career

Early career

Ortiz was victorious in his first six fights, winning all six by stoppage and only going past the first round in one of the six fights.

Ortiz Jr vs. Valenzuela

His seventh bout came on September 16, 2017, on the undercard of Canelo Álvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin I against Cesar Valenzuela, which he won by second-round technical knockout.

Ortiz Jr vs. Ortiz

After improving to 11-0, Ortiz appeared a year later on the undercard of

Canelo Álvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin II Canelo Álvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin II billed as ''Final Judgment'', was a professional boxing rematch between Canelo Álvarez and Gennady Golovkin which took place at T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada on September 15, 2018. Alvarez won by ...

to face

Roberto Ortiz The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...

. Vergil Ortiz knocked down his opponent with a right hand early in the second round. Roberto got up, but he was still hurt. Vergil attacked him immediately and knocked him down again with a right hand that sent his opponent to one knee. Roberto Ortiz reached his feet again, but the referee deemed him unfit to continue, calling off the fight.

Rise up the ranks

Ortiz Jr vs. Orozco

Ortiz, who now had an unblemished record of 13-0, defeated Antonio Orozco by sixth-round technical knockout to win the vacant WBA Gold welterweight title on August 10, 2019, at

The Theatre at Grand Prairie Texas Trust CU Theatre is an American concert hall located in Grand Prairie, Texas, 16 miles west of Dallas and 24 miles east of Fort Worth. It is near Lone Star Park and AirHogs Stadium. The theatre is currently operated by AEG and owned by th ...

, Texas. He defended the title in his next fight against Brad Solomon on December 13, 2019, in

Indio Indio may refer to: Places * Indio, Bovey Tracey, an historic estate in Devon, England * Indio, California, a city in Riverside County, California, United States People with the name * Indio (musician), Canadian musician Gordon Peterson * Índio ...

, California, winning by fifth-round knockout.

Ortiz Jr vs. Vargas

Ortiz was originally scheduled to face Samuel Vargas on March 28, 2020, at The Forum, Inglewood, California on the undercard of Canelo Álvarez vs. Billy Joe Saunders. However, following the postponement of the fight between Álvarez and Saunders due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the fight took place on July 24, 2020, at the same venue as Ortiz's previous fight against Brad Solomon. Ortiz won the fight by seventh-round technical knockout and retained his WBA Gold welterweight title.

Ortiz Jr vs. Hooker

Ortiz returned to the ring on March 20, 2021, beating

Maurice Hooker Maurice Dewayne Hooker (born August 7, 1989) is an American professional boxer who held the WBO light welterweight title from 2018 to 2019 and challenged for the WBC light welterweight title in 2019. As of August 2020, he is ranked as the worl ...

with another seventh-round technical knockout in

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

, Texas to win the vacant WBO International welterweight title. Hooker was ranked #8 by the WBO, #13 by the WBC and #15 by the IBF at welterweight.

Ortiz Jr vs. Kavaliauskas

On August 14, 2021, Ortiz defended the title against

Egidijus Kavaliauskas Egidijus Kavaliauskas (born June 29, 1988) is a Lithuanian professional boxer who challenged for the WBO welterweight title in 2019. At regional level, he held the WBC– NABF welterweight title from 2017 to 2019 and the WBO Inter-Continental w ...

. Kavaliauskas was ranked #5 by the WBO and #10 by the WBC at welterweight. Kavaliauskas, who became Ortiz's first opponent to last longer than seven rounds, suffered five knockdowns as Ortiz won by eighth-round technical knockout.

Ortiz Jr vs. McKinson

On August 6, 2022, Ortiz Jr fought Michael McKinson in an eliminator for the WBA world welterweight title. McKinson was ranked #5 by the WBO and #10 by the WBA at welterweight. Ortiz Jr beat McKinson by technical knockout in the 9th round.

Professional boxing record

References

Boxers from Texas Welterweight boxers 1998 births Living people

External links

*{{boxrec, id=766727
Vergil Ortiz Jr - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings
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Box.Live