Vergil Ortiz Jr. says his fight against Israil Madrimov is the “best” one on Saturday’s Riyadh card at the Kingdom Arena in Saudi Arabia.
The entertaining knockout artist Ortiz Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs) defends his WBC interim junior middleweight title against former WBA champ Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs) in a fight that is surprisingly buried below three other bouts on the undercard.
Show Stealer?
Ortiz Jr. could be right. His fight against Madrimov, on paper, is superior to the three fights above on the undercard, but the event organizers feel they’re more important to them specifically but not necessarily better matchups to entertain the fans.
Vergil’s fight against Madrimov is a toss-up, and picking a winner is impossible. Madrimov has the skills and power to win, but his low work rate may cost him the fight if he doesn’t throw more.
That’s why he lost his last fight against Terence Crawford. Madrimov let Crawford outwork him in the last four rounds, and he wound up losing a close 12-round unanimous decision. It might not be possible for Madrimov to throw more punches because he’s always had a low output, and trying to be more productive at 29 is going to be difficult.
“I’m trying to be unbiased as a I can. This fight is the best fight on the card. It’s going to steal the show, but I’m very excited to see all these other fights happening in person,” said Vergil Ortiz Jr. during today’s final press conference, talking about his fight against former WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov being the best on the entire card this Saturday night in Riyadh.
“I’m very privileged to be here, and I’m not going to let this opportunity go to waste,” said Ortiz Jr.
Saturday’s Card on DAZN PPV
Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol
Joseph Parker vs. Martin Bakole
Shakur Stevenson vs. Josh Padley
Carlos Adames vs. Hamzah Sheeraz
Vergil Ortiz Jr. vs. Israil Madrimov
Zhilei Zhang vs. Agit Kabayel
Joshua Buatsi vs. Callum Smith
