Jamaine Ortiz is ready to reintroduce himself to a junior welterweight division that he sees as wide open. 

Ortiz will face a late replacement, Ambiorix Bautista, in a 10-round bout Saturday at the Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida. 

Ortiz, 19-2-1 (9 KOs), fought the WBO junior welterweight titleholder Teofimo Lopez in 2024, losing a unanimous decision. The fight was competitive; some observers even believed Ortiz – of Worcester, Massachusetts – didn’t get enough credit for his work in the fight. Now, boxing for the third time since that bout, Ortiz is aiming to get people talking about him and also move past the lingering bad taste of the uneventful bout with Lopez.

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“The junior welterweight division is wide open,” Ortiz told BoxingScene. “I’m knocking on the door of a world title shot.”

Ortiz’s original opponent, Steve Claggett, fought Lopez last summer and looked to be a comparable opponent between the two. Last week, Claggett was ruled out of the fight. Ortiz welcomed a fight with Claggett in the future when he is healthy, and he discussed Claggett’s high output. 

Enter, Bautista, 19-2 (11 KOs), a 33-year-old from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, who took the fight on short notice. Bautista suffered back-to-back losses in 2016, including a loss to Nicolas Polanco. Since then, he has won 16 fights, all of which have been in the Dominican Republic.

“I know he’s riding on a nice winning streak after losing a couple of decisions early in his career,” Ortiz said. “I believe he’s coming in with a lot of confidence, and most fighters from the Dominican Republic come into the ring with a do-or-die mentality.”

Ortiz, 29, views the fight as an opportunity to make a case that he deserves another shot at the title, despite losing out on a notable opponent. Ortiz is ranked in the top 15 of all the major sanctioning bodies, with his highest rating being No.8 with the IBF. A win would be another step towards another chance.

“It solidifies me as a legit contender,” Ortiz said. “And makes those big fights harder for people to avoid.”