BoxingFight Recaps

WEEKEND THOUGHTS | VERGIL ORTIZ’S HOMECOMING, OLYMPIAN LOSES PRO DEBUT, SOSA WINS

Vergil Ortiz comes home

Vergil Ortiz is one of Golden Boy Promotions best prospects. The welterweight prospect, who now is a contender, moved up to 147 lbs in his last bout stopping Mauricio Herrera before this past Saturday’s bout in his hometown of Grand Prairie, Texas, in which he stopped former world title contender Antonio Orozco in six rounds.

Ortiz has won every one of his fourteen bouts by knockout, and by all accounts, is the future of Golden Boy Promotions along with Ryan Garcia in terms of young talent.

Ortiz win didn’t come without a bit of concern as Orozco had moments, especially in the third round, that proved cautionary. The speed in which Ortiz’s punches come appear to be all the same speed, meaning his intention is pure power. The issue with this is at the next level some fighters at the top of the sport will touch with a jab, use a quick lead punch as opposed to loading up on one shot, and potentially can set traps based on Ortiz’s aggressiveness.

Nonetheless, Ortiz is a hard-working young boxer out of the Robert Garcia Boxing Academy, who has an entertaining style. It seems he is on a crash course for fellow Golden Boy welterweight Blair Cobbs, a boxer-puncher now located out of Las Vegas, Nevada, in which the winner would probably move into a title shot position. This will probably happen in the next two years or so.

Not all amateurs are built the same

Two-time gold medalist Robeisy Ramirez lost his professional debut to Adan Gonzales on Saturday night. The Cuban Olympian was best known for beating Shakur Stevenson in the Olympics in 2016.

Ramirez was dropped in the first moments of the fight with a sneaky inside punch, Ramirez then followed that up with no sense of urgency, acting as though he was fighting a ten-round fight as opposed a four-rounder. Ramirez, who was obviously being brought in to play up his amateur rivalry with Stevenson, now has some soul-searching to do.

Ramirez had trouble handling a high-volume pressure fighter, and his corner offered zero adjustments. More than likely it will be heavily suggested for Ramirez to try out a new camp for his next pro fight and if he were to lose again, that’ll probably be it.

The amateur pedigree in professional is very important, but so is having someone who understands the professional game as well. For the decorated amateur, Ramirez is already at a professional crossroads.

Jason Sosa wins, looks for one last run

Super featherweight Jason Sosa comes off as a very likable guy and appears to be in need of one big final payday in the sport of boxing. After making a good sum of money, the east coast fighter now has maybe a 1/10 of what he has made in his career, and is looking to make one more run at a title, to create financial stability.

Sosa this past weekend defeated Lydell Rhodes and now is looking to face either Oscar Valdez in the future or WBO super featherweight champion Jamel Herring at 130 lbs, as he looks to get himself into another big pivotal fight that could change his fortunes, both literally and metaphorically. Another fun bout that could possible happen was the one that was originally scheduled which would be Jason Sosa versus Erick De Leon.

Sosa is a big puncher, who has made a career out of competitive bouts, even winning a world title at one point over Stephen Smith.

Sosa became the main event after Carl Frampton suffered a freak injury during fight week breaking his hand.

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Lukie Ketelle

Lukie Ketelle