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Vergil Ortiz Jr. says he hopes his fight against Israil Madrimov will be a “chess game” next month when they fight in a 12-round bout on February 22 in Riyadh.
Ortiz Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs) will defend his interim WBC junior middleweight title that he was lucky enough to get in his last fight against Serhii Bohachuk against former WBA 154-pound champion Madrimov (10- 1-1, 7 KOs). KO).
Madrimov’s power versus Ortiz Jr.’s pace.
Former amateur star Madrimov has the skills and power advantage over Ortiz Jr., but he doesn’t possess the same punching power or stamina. If Israil can’t throw harder and fight harder in the later rounds, Vergil Jr. will be victorious in this matchup.
As we saw in Madrimov’s recent loss to Terence Crawford, he uses too many fakes and waits too long to take his shots. When Madrimov throws, it’s always one punch. He’s not a combo puncher. Feint for 30 seconds, then fire a single shot, then start again. That’s why he lost to Crawford and why he could lose to Vergil.
“I can’t tell you what it’s going to be like. I think it will be a chess game, but it will be fun. It’s going to be fun,” Vergil Ortiz Jr. told Queensberry Promotions. YouTube channel about his title defense against Israil Madrimov on February 22 in Riyadh.
“I think there is a lot of nonsense with people. ‘Oh, I see fear,’” Vergil Jr. said when asked what he saw during his confrontation with Israil Madrimov. “I’m just there looking at you because I have to. Do you know what I mean? I don’t see anything. I just say, ‘This is part of the job or whatever,’ trying not to laugh. That’s what I’m thinking. Trying not to laugh or anything. That’s just being honest,” Ortiz Jr. said.
Recent controversies
Both fighters were in recent fights that could have easily gone the other way if the tables had been turned. Madrimov out-punched Terence Crawford but received a questionable 12-round unanimous decision on August 3 of last year. Vergil Jr. was very lucky to win a 12-round majority decision over interim WBC 154-pound champion Bohachuk on August 10.
Ortiz Jr. went down twice and appeared to lose six of the twelve rounds. Normally, that would mean a loss, but the judges gave it to Vergil, the A-side fighter, and now he’s the new WBC interim champion. Obviously it would have been better if Vergil had clarified the controversy, but he preferred not to. That doesn’t help his career because fans now see him as a tainted champion.
