De La Hoya: Ortiz Jr. Will Steal The Show Against Madrimov

Oscar De La Hoya predicts that his fighter, interim WBC junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr, will “steal the show” on the February 22 card by defeating ‘Little GGG’ Israil Madrimov in Riyadh.

De La Hoya feels that Vergil Jr’s ring intelligence will allow him to deal with the power of former WBA 154-pound champion Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs) in their fight on the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2.

Will Ortiz Jr. steal the show?

Oscar says this is a tough fight for Ortiz Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs) after his grueling battle against Serhii Bohachuk on August 10. Vergil Jr, 26, fell twice In that fight, I took a lot of hard hits and was lucky to win.

The punishment Bohachuk’s last opponent, Ishmael Davis, received last Saturday night in Riyadh was nothing compared to what Ortiz Jr. absorbed last August. That’s why there are questions about whether Vergil Jr. will be able to stand up to Madrimov’s power on February 22.

While he’s had time to recover from the beating he took from Bohachuk, it may not be enough for him to deal with a guy who hits just as hard, if not harder, against ‘Little GGG.’ This is not a fight where Vergil Jr. can count on winning by outpointing Madrimov like he did against Bohachuk in the final three rounds to achieve victory.

‘Little GGG’: The power of Madrimov

“Style-wise, it’s a tough fight. “Vergil is coming off a tremendous victory against (Serhii) Bohachuk,” Oscar De La Hoya told Fight Hub TVtalking about Vergil Ortiz Jr. defending his WBC interim junior middleweight title against Israil Madrimov next month on February 22 in Riyadh.

“So, almost similar styles in a way. Madrimov has a better boxing IQ, but he hits hard like a mule (kicks) and moves forward. It’s going to be a very entertaining fight. Vergil Ortiz will steal the show that night.

“Vergil Ortiz is a very intelligent fighter. He knows exactly what he has to do inside the ring. I’m sure he studies his opponents. His cornerback and his team study their opponents to make sure Vergil is in optimal condition,” Oscar said.

Madrimov has a completely different style than Bohachuk, and it is not even remotely the same. De La Hoya has been wrong to think that they have similar styles.

Bohachuk is a relentless, high-volume hitter who never stops throwing. On the contrary, Madrimov is a boxer of low performance and great power. Their similarities lie in their excellent hitting power. Madrimov has better hand speed than Bohachuk, but not by much.

Madrimov lost his last fight to Terence Crawford by 12-round unanimous decision on August 3 in Los Angeles. Madrimov could have won it going into the final four rounds, but he let Crawford take the win by outplaying him.

He showed too much respect for Crawford and didn’t attack him relentlessly like he needed to. If he could have transplanted Bohachuk’s aggressive style to Madrimov in those final four rounds, he probably would have knocked out Crawford or at least put him in the running.

Bouncing

Vergil Jr. struggled mightily against Bohachuk, falling in rounds one and eight. Ortiz Jr’s victory by 12-round majority decision on August 10 was controversial and affected his popularity. What made things worse was not giving Bohachuk a rematch. That cemented fans’ opinion that Ortiz Jr. knew he had lost and didn’t want to fight Serhii again, fearing the judges would get it right this time.

“Vergil is a very intelligent young man who knows how to take care of business. He knows how to adapt. I think those adjustments in the first quarter of the fight and the first half of the fight are going to be very important,” De La Hoya said.