Vergil Ortiz Jr. emerged on social media today after 11 days of silence following his controversial twelve-round majority decision over WBC interim junior middleweight champion Serhii Bohachuk on August 10 in Las Vegas.
Unrealistic expectations
Ortiz doesn’t have the popularity to get any of the three fighters on his wish list for his next fight. He needs to build his name by defending his WBC interim 154-lb belt against fighters like Charles Conwell, Erickson Lubin and Xander Zayas before he gets these ideas of fighting the popular fighters.
Right now, Vergil is putting the cart before the horse and calling out fighters from his league popularity after his controversial win over Bohachuk. What he needs to do is clear up the controversy.
Unsurprisingly, Vergil isn’t interested in giving Bohachuk a rematch to erase the controversy surrounding their fight. Given the punishment Vergil took in that fight, he would be a fool to ever fight Bohachuk again. He is completely wrong for Vergil.
Ortiz’s ambitious wish list
- Terence Crawford
- Errol Spence Jr.
- Sebastian Fundora
We already knew Vergil wanted Crawford next because he made sure to call him out inside the ring after the fight. It is unclear if Vergil has been in the hospital for the last ten days since that fight, as he is only now proceeding to book a match between him and Crawford.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like any of those fights will be next for Vergil, but if he waits long enough, one could happen in eight to twelve months. His Excellency Turki Alalshikh has already said he doesn’t think Crawford will agree to fight Vergil Jr because he wants Canelo Alvarez. But if he can’t get the Canelo fight for Crawford, he might choose the next best option.
Errol Spence Jr. and Sebastian Fundora, WBC/WBO 154-lb champion, is expected to fight before the end of the year. So, if Vergil wants to fight one of them, it should be in the first half of 2025. He wants to fight the Texan Spence because they could potentially fight at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, but not if Errol loses to Fundora.
If Fundora prevails against Spence, he will likely move toward a fight against Tim Tszyu or Crawford. Those are good-paying fights for Fundora, and he’ll make a lot more money against one of those guys than he would against Vergil, who isn’t very popular.
Top 3 fighters I would love to have the chance to run against
1. @terencecrawford
2. @ErrolSpenceJr
3. @SebastianFundo1All talented fighters. No disrespect here, I just want to prove myself against the best 💪🏼💯
— Vergil Ortiz Jr. (@VergilOrtiz) August 21, 2024
