Vergil Ortiz Jr maintained his unbeaten record by stopping Maurice Hooker in the seventh round of a fantastic action fight tonight, but the biggest story coming out of that may be what could happen next, and whether or not it should.
Hooker is a stable training companion in the WBO welterweight title Terence “Bud” Crawford, who was present in the fight. Early in the evening, Crawford was interviewed by Chris Mannix for DAZN, and kind of rejected the idea of fighting Ortiz (17-0, 17 KO) if Ortiz wins Hooker, which he ended up doing.
But Ortiz wants this fight, and this is nothing new. He said in his post-fight interview, directly but respectfully to Crawford, that he doesn’t care if he is “ready” or not, this is the fight he wants. At 22, Ortiz has a lot of sand to look for this type of fight, but here is also a harsh reality: neither of them has a big easy fight to do next.
Ortiz’s promoter at the Golden Boy, Oscar De La Hoya, tweeted in Crawford after the fight for Crawford’s promoter, Bob Arum, to call him:
Now listen, De La Hoya says a lot of things, but I think there is sincerity here.
In July 2020, before fighting Samuel Vargas, Ortiz gave an interview and said he would like to fight Crawford at that time. Recently, he said pretty much the same thing.
“If I beat Hooker and they offer me (Crawford) soon after, I accept. That’s why I’ve been fighting, that’s what I want, ”he said. And he fully recognizes that he understands that it is a big step. He showed nothing but respect for Crawford when discussing the idea.
But he also believes that he can beat him.
“A lot of people thought (it was too big a step for) Teofimo Lopez with Lomachenko, and he beat him. Anything is possible, ”said Ortiz last week. “And more than that, I think I am very capable of defeating Crawford.”
Ortiz did not leave the ring unscathed against Hooker, as the former 140-pound champion scored a little on the young gunman and gave him a real fight. It was a legitimate test for Ortiz, the kind he really needed. He had solid level victories over some good veteran fighters, but Hooker really provided real stamina, an incredibly valuable experience.
Hooker spoke honestly after the fight and said that Vergil will one day be champion, but that he does not believe that Ortiz is ready for Crawford.
Crawford said he is “in bigger and better things”, and maybe he is. There has been a lot of talk about Crawford fighting Shawn Porter, which is a bigger fight right now. But there have been conversations between Crawford and Porter in the past and it came to nothing.
If it doesn’t end up being Porter, and it seems clear that it won’t be Manny Pacquiao, who will be Crawford’s next fighter? Top Rank has exhausted its internal average weights and has had to go out and get faded names like Amir Khan and Kell Brook in the past two years only to find marketable opponents for the Nebraska native. The division is mainly controlled by the Premier Boxing Champions – titleholders Errol Spence Jr and Yordenis Ugas are with PBC, as are Porter, Keith Thurman and Danny Garcia. The same is true of rising star Jaron “Boots” Ennis. Just like many guys you would call “the best in the rest”, like Sergey Lipinets, Jamal James, Josesito Lopez and Eimantas Stanionis.
There are other options for Crawford and Ortiz, of course. Any of them could have a fight with European champion David Avanesyan, who is on the rise at the moment with four consecutive wins, including a break from Josh Kelly on February 20. Matchroom’s Daniyar Yeleussinov wants a big fight. The Golden Boy has Rashidi Ellis, a 27-year-old unbeaten runner who hasn’t received any major hype.
But if Crawford doesn’t catch Porter, there is no better fight for him than Ortiz. And there is no greater fight for Ortiz than Crawford.
Perhaps Ortiz is right: it doesn’t matter if he is “ready”, the fight can be the right one anyway.