Vergil Ortiz Jr. believes Israil Madrimov will be desperate to win their fight on Saturday night because he’s coming off a loss. He says he wants to “prove he’s still in the mix.” In truth, both fighters are coming off losses.
Ortiz Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs) was gifted a decision in his fight against Serhii Bohachuk on August 10th, but he was beaten more soundly than Madrimov was in his narrow loss to Terence Crawford on August 3rd.
Vergil Jr. will defend his WBC interim junior middleweight title against former WBA 154-lb champion Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs) this Saturday, February 22nd, at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh. The two fighters are fighting on the undercard of Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2. The event will be shown live on DAZN PPV.
Ortiz on Madrimov’s Mindset
“Terence beat him. It wasn’t really competitive to me. It was a competitive fight, but I didn’t think he won,” said Vergil Ortiz Jr. to iFL TV about Israil Madrimov’s fight against Terence Crawford on August 3rd last year.
The judges’ scores were 115-113, 116-112, and 115-113 for Crawford. It was definitely a close fight, but it’s not surprising that Vergil Ortiz Jr. doesn’t want to give Madrimov credit. The idea is to never compliment someone you’re about to fight. Crawford almost lost.
“He’s coming off a loss. So, he’s going to want to try and prove that he’s still in the mix,” said Ortiz Jr. about Madrimov. “I want to win just as much as he does. I come in to win all the time. Hopefully, be unified in 12 months,” said Vergil Jr. when asked what he hopes to accomplish in the next year.
Madrimov isn’t going to try just because he lost his last fight. That’s a silly observation by Ortiz Jr. He will try and win because he’s a competitor, and it’s his job. He will try to improve on the areas that cost him his fight against Crawford, and that’s by throwing more punches.
“It’s a good fight. I think there are weight classes for a reason. I got Canelo,” said Ortiz Jr. when asked who he picks to win the September 13th fight between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford.
It’s believed that Crawford will make it ugly by moving, jabbing, and holding Canelo all night. He’ll follow the Mayweather playbook by trying to frustrate Canelo, and he won’t care about the boos because he wants a win. The fans will likely be angry at themselves for having ordered the fight.
It would harken back to the old Mayweather days, when fans got caught up in the hype and ordered his fights, not being aware that he was a boring fighter, and then got angry when he played it safe for 12 rounds.
“Of course, but I don’t know if that fight will happen. In the past, I heard it was the Canelo fight, or he’ll retire. Once he gets the Canelo fight, is he going to retire?” said Vergil Jr. when asked if he’d like to fight Crawford. He’s going to get that Canelo money. ‘I’m not going to want to fight more.’ That’s just my hypothesis, but we’ll see.”
Vergil Jr. is right. Crawford isn’t going to want to return to 154 to fight him after he gets that Canelo money in September. It would be too big of a pay cut, and the fight would be just as grueling. Ortiz Jr. throws a lot of punches, forcing Crawford into a tough battle in which he’d have to be willing to absorb a lot of shots to win.
After the big payday Crawford gets against, what’s left of his ambition won’t be enough for him to want to fight Ortiz Jr. He’d want an easier fight that paydays, like a rematch against Errol Spence.
Last Updated on 02/19/2025
