Tag Archives: Michael McKinson

Vergil Ortiz Jr.’s Bout with Eimantas Stanionis Rescheduled for April

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Vergil Ortiz Jr. will have to wait six more weeks for his next bout…

The 24-year-old Mexican-American boxer and Eimantas Stanionis will meet in a rescheduled welterweight bout on April 29 in Texas, according to ESPN.

Vergil Ortiz Jr.The 147-pound matchup was set for March 18, but postponed after Stanionis underwent an emergency appendectomy in his native Lithuania earlier this month.

Oritz’s promoter, Golden Boy, won the rights to the WBA “regular” welterweight title fight at last month’s purse bid with a commitment of $2.3 million and will stream the fight on DAZN.

Golden Boy will kick in additional money to make Ortiz, who is a far bigger star than Stanionis in the U.S., whole. The Lithuanian boxer won the secondary title with a split-decision victory over Radzhab Butaev in April and is entitled to 75% of the winning bid, while Ortiz will earn much more than the $575,000 he’s set to make via the purse bid.

The bout shapes up as a coin-flip matchup between two pressure fighters in one of boxing’s best weight classes.

Ortiz (19-0, 19 KOs) is rated No. 4 by ESPN at welterweight. He broke through last year with a pair of stoppage wins over Maurice Hooker and Egidijus Kavaliauskas. Ortiz, who fights out of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, was set to fight Michael McKinson in March, but it was postponed after Ortiz was hospitalized with rhabdomyolysis.

Rhabdomyolysis is a breakdown of muscle tissue that releases the damaging protein myoglobin into the blood, which can lead to kidney damage. Ortiz went on to score a ninth-round TKO of McKinson in August and will now step way up in class.

Stanionis (14-0, 9 KOs) is ESPN’s No. 6 boxer at 147 pounds. He also owns a win over Thomas Dulorme.

Vergil Ortiz Jr. to Fight Eimantas Stanionis in March

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Vergil Ortiz Jr. has received his marching orders…

The 147-pound bout between the 24-year-old Mexican-American boxer and Eimantas Stanionis has been scheduled for March 18 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, according to ESPN.

Vergil Ortiz Jr.Oritz’s promoter, Golden Boy, won the rights to the WBA “regular” welterweight title fight at last month’s purse bid with a commitment of $2.3 million, and will stream the fight on DAZN.

Now, Oscar De La Hoya‘s promotional outfit is placing the fight in Ortiz’s home state, where he’s headlined many times.

Golden Boy will also kick in additional money to make Ortiz, who is a far bigger star than Stanionis in the U.S., whole. The Lithuanian boxer won the secondary title with a split-decision victory over Radzhab Butaev in April and is entitled to 75% of the winning bid, while Ortiz will receive far more than the $575,000 he’s set to make via the purse bid.

The bout shapes up as a coin-flip matchup between two pressure fighters in one of boxing’s best weight classes.

Ortiz (19-0, 19 KOs) is rated No. 4 by ESPN at welterweight. The 24-year-old broke through last year with a pair of stoppage wins over Maurice Hooker and Egidijus Kavaliauskas.

Ortiz was set to fight Michael McKinson in March, but the fight was postponed after Ortiz was hospitalized with rhabdomyolysis.

Rhabdomyolysis is a breakdown of muscle tissue that releases the damaging protein myoglobin into the blood, which can lead to kidney damage.

Ortiz went on to score a ninth-round TKO of McKinson in August and will now step way up in class.

Stanionis (14-0, 9 KOs) is ESPN’s No. 6 boxer at 147 pounds. The 28-year-old also owns a win over Thomas Dulorme. He’s promoted by Probellum but has competed under the PBC banner for most of his career.

Vergil Ortiz Jr. Defeats Michael McKinson via Technical Decision

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Vergil Ortiz Jr. has registered another knockout.

The 24-year-old Mexican-American boxer defeated Michael McKinson via technical decision with a ninth-round stoppage at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, extending his strong start to the year.

Vergil Ortiz Jr.And with his 19th knockout in as many fights, Ortiz showed why he’s one of the top welterweight contenders in the world — even if he didn’t feel like he was at his best.

“The first seven rounds, I didn’t really do anything good,” Ortiz said in the post-fight interview with DAZN. “I had to adjust big time. I should have listened to my corner from the beginning. But I listened and we got it done.”

Ortiz and McKinson were initially scheduled to fight in March. The fight was postponed when Ortiz was hospitalized because of rhabdomyolysis.

Saturday’s bout, just a few miles away from Ortiz’s hometown of Grand Prairie, was considered a WBA eliminator. Ortiz (19-0, 19 KOs) will certainly maintain his status as the WBO and WBA‘s No. 1 contender in the 147-pound division.

But McKinson (22-1, 2 KOs) proved to be a tricky opponent. He was slippery around the outside of the ring and roughed Ortiz up on the inside as well.

Eventually, all the bodywork Ortiz’s corner asked for at the beginning of the fight manifested itself and paid dividends. In the final 30 seconds of the eighth round, Ortiz dropped the British fighter with a left hook to the body. McKinson went down in similar fashion at the beginning of the ninth round.

After he limped around the ring, his corner jumped to the top of the apron and threw in the towel.

Ortiz said his father, Vergil Ortiz Sr., yelled at him for three rounds for not following the game plan for the fight. The 24-year-old’s stubbornness eventually gave way to sound advice.

“You think you know everything, and you don’t,” Ortiz Jr. said.

A path to a title remains tricky because of the landscape within the welterweight division. Errol Spence and Terence Crawford, who was ringside Saturday, hold all four major belts and are in talks for a potential undisputed title fight. In his post-fight interview with DAZN, Ortiz acknowledged securing a title shot soon will be difficult because of that impending matchup.

But when it comes to taking on anyone else, he’ll fight whomever that opponent is.

WBA Strawweight Champion Seniesa Estrada to Fight Anabel Ortiz in Rematch

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Seniesa Estrada is returning to the ring…

After months out of the ring waiting for a fight, the 29-year-old Mexican American boxer and WBA strawweight champion will take on 35-year-old Mexican professional boxer Anabel Ortiz on August 6.

Seniesa EstradaEstrada announced her return on Twitter and will be on the undercard of the Vergil Ortiz Jr.-Michael McKinson fight in Texas.

The fight against Ortiz will be a rematch of her fight on March 20, 2021, when she won the strawweight title in a unanimous decision win over Ortiz in which she knocked the former champion down in the first round and dominated the fight.

Estrada (22-0, 9 KO), ESPN‘s No. 6 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, last fought in December, when she knocked out Maria Micheo Santizo in the fourth round.

This will be Estrada’s second defense of her title.

Ortiz (31-5, 4 KO) has lost her past two fights — by unanimous decision to Estrada, where she lost her title, and then last December to Marlen Esparza in a fight for the WBC flyweight title.

Before her loss to Estrada, Ortiz had a 21-fight win streak dating back to 2012, when she was defeated by Yesica Yolanda Bopp. Four of Ortiz’s five career losses came in world title fights.

Golden Boy Promotions Reschedules Welterweight Bout Between Vergil Ortiz Jr. & Michael McKinson

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Vergil Ortiz Jr.’s next bout is officially (re)scheduled…

The 24-year-old Mexican American boxer will fight Michael McKinson in a rescheduled welterweight bout on August 6 in Fort Worth, Texas, according to Golden Boy Promotions.

Vergil Ortiz Jr.It was previously reported that Ortiz and David Avanesyan had agreed to a deal for a fight on the same date, but according to Ortiz’s manager, Rick Mirigian, Avanesyan reneged.

“[Avanesyan] agreed to the contract in writing, both by text and email,” Mirigian, who also manages former champions Jose Ramirez and Joseph Diaz Jr., told ESPN. “Golden Boy accommodated all of his needs to get this done, and then more frivolous demands followed and he backed out. Golden Boy bent over backwards to accommodate him.”

Mirigian said Avanesyan’s team informed Golden Boy they would return the signed contract but never did. That’s when GBP turned its attention back to McKinson.

The Englishman was set to fight Ortiz on March 19 before Ortiz was hospitalized with rhabdomyolysis, a breakdown of muscle tissue that releases the damaging protein myoglobin into the blood.

McKinson (22-0, 2 KOs) fought a replacement opponent, Alex Martin, on that same date, and won a unanimous decision to remain undefeated.

“I’m getting what I deserve,” said McKinson. “I was prepared to fight Ortiz Jr. before; now, I have been given the opportunity again to prove I am the best in this division.”

Avanesyan, 33, a hard-punching Russian who now resides in the U.K., appeared to present a far more formidable challenge for Ortiz. Avanesyan scored six straight stoppages since a TKO loss to Egidijus Kavaliauskas in 2018. Most notably, Avanesyan stopped Josh Kelly last year, ending his run as a top prospect.

“There was never a deal signed,” a spokesperson for Queensberry Promotions, which promotes Avanesyan, told ESPN. “It was in discussions but didn’t get that far. The terms offered were not acceptable and changed without agreement in the redraft. We never dealt with his manager, we were dealing with Golden Boy. And we notified the WBC that purse offers were preferable. Avanesyan has never run or avoided anyone and for anyone to suggest that is laughable.”

Ortiz, (18-0, 18 KOs), a Dallas native, is one of boxing’s fastest-rising stars. He’s coming off his best win yet, an eighth-round TKO of Kavaliauskas in August. Ortiz was hurt in Round 2 but rallied to score five knockdowns en route to the finish. The nine-month layoff will be the longest of Ortiz’s career.

“I am very happy to be stepping back into the ring again,” said Ortiz, ESPN‘s No. 4 welterweight. “I’m ready to show the world once again why I’m ready for a world title.”