Vergil Ortiz: I Hit Vargas To Body So Many Times, Don't Know How He Didn't Go Down

The confidence in Vergil Ortiz Jr. allowed him to enter the ring of the belief that there was no way he was going to lose as long as he implemented his game plan.

There also existed the belief that Samuel Vargas could likely extend him deeper than at any other point in his career.

Both of those theories held true, as the unbeaten 22-year old welterweight from Grand Prairie, Texas stopped Toronto’s Vargas (31-6-2, 14KOs) after seven lopsided rounds of action. The DAZN-streamed headliner from Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California saw Ortiz break down Vargas before dialing up the pressure in round seven—the first time in his career he’d been to that point in a fight—before closing the show.

“Against a guy like that, I would give myself a solid B+,” Ortiz told the DAZN broadcast team after running up his record to a perfect 16-0 (16KOs). “He brought it out of me, props to him.”

Vargas had only been stopped twice before in 38 prior starts. Errol Spence (26-0, 20KOs)—now a unified welterweight titlist and pound-for-pound entrant—was still a rising prospect when he stopped Vargas in four rounds in April 2015. Former two-division titlist Danny Garcia (36-2, 21KOs) put away the Toronto-based divisional gatekeeper in the 7th round of their November 2016 clash in his Philadelphia hometown.

Ortiz found a way to join such stellar company, although it required a lot of work.

“I hit him the body so many times. I don’t know how he didn’t go down,” notes Ortiz. “I knew it was time to take him out. If they let it go, it would have been worse.” 

Friday’s bout was the first for Ortiz since a 5th round stoppage of Brad Solomon last December. The win completed a 2019 Prospect of the Year campaign, although the ongoing coronavirus pandemic stalled his career for another seven months. With promoter Golden Boy Promotions back in the swing of things, how often Ortiz can fight will depend solely on his own health.

“My hands took a little beating punching him that whole time,” quipped Ortiz after the fight. “As soon as they heal up, I’ll be ready to go.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox