Oscar De La Hoya hopes Vergil Ortiz Jr. at least goes some rounds with Samuel Vargas on Friday night.
Ortiz’s promoter feels confident about the 22-year-old welterweight’s readiness to fight for a world title. De La Hoya would become more comfortable, though, knowing how Ortiz responds to competing later in bouts.
Thus far, only three of Ortiz’s 15 professional fights have lasted past the third round. Ortiz (15-0, 15 KOs) has not boxed beyond the sixth round in any of his appearances.
“What I wanna see in this fight, July 24th, is I wanna see him go a few rounds,” De La Hoya told Chris Mannix during a recent appearance on the Sports Illustrated boxing podcast. “I mean, this guy is no pushover. Vargas is a fighter who’s gonna bring it to him. He’s a tough guy, he’s durable, he knows how to fight. So, I wanna see some rounds out of Vergil Ortiz.
“I hope that he does go to deep waters, the 9th, the 10th round, and see what he has, see what he’s made of. But if he blows him out in one or two rounds, then I don’t think I’ll have a choice but to get him a world title [fight], maybe in his next fight, or maybe the first quarter of next year. I strongly feel that he is ready.”
The Colombian-born, Toronto-based Vargas (31-5-2, 14 KOs) has lost by knockout only twice, to IBF/WBC welterweight champ Errol Spence Jr. (26-0, 21 KOs) and former WBC 147-pound champ Danny Garcia (36-2, 21 KOs).
Spence stopped him in the fourth round of their April 2015 bout at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Garcia beat Vargas by seventh-round technical knockout in November 2016 at Temple University’s Liacouras Center in Philadelphia.
If Ortiz obliterates Vargas, De La Hoya won’t hesitate to match his young knockout artist against at least a welterweight contender.
“Look, you have to experience all styles inside that ring before you get to that championship, you know, top level,” De La Hoya said. “But Vergil just keeps blowing everybody away. And, you know, until he gets that one opponent, where he really respects [him] and can’t knock out, then that’s when we know that we should, ‘OK, put him in with that next level, with the world championship title fight.’ So, I feel that he’s on the right path. I feel that Vergil, you know, is obviously less [than] a handful of fights away from superstardom. So, yeah, we’re really looking forward to it.”
Ortiz-Vargas, scheduled for 10 rounds, will headline DAZN’s first live boxing stream in the United States since February 29. It is the main event of a six-fight card at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California.
DAZN’s coverage is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
Ortiz, of Grand Prairie, Texas, will attempt to pick up where he left off December 13 at Fantasy Springs. He knocked down veteran Brad Solomon (28-3, 9 KOs) once in the fourth round and twice in the fifth before their scheduled 12-rounder ended at 2:22 of the fifth round.
“Look, Vergil Ortiz is probably one of the most talented pure fighters that we promote inside that squared circle,” De La Hoya said. “Look, Vergil is just a phenom. He’s a hard worker, he’s humble, he knows what he wants, and he wants it fast.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
