Vergil Ortiz Jr. will challenge WBA ‘regular’ welterweight champion Eimantas Stanionis for his title this Saturday night in the main event at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. Both fighters are coming off a long eleven-month layoff, and knowing which fighter is fresher is challenging.
DAZN will show the live boxing event at 8:00 p.m. ET, 5:00 p.m. PT. For some reason, Golden Boy Promotions is getting a late start in the promotion of the Stanionio vs. Ortiz Jr event. This is surprising given that Vergil Jr, 25, could soon be their #1 star.
Eimantas (14-0, 9 KOs) captured his WBA 147-lb title last year in April, beating Radzhab Butaev by a twelve-round split decision. For his part, Ortiz Jr defeated Michael McKinson last year in August. Ortiz had planned on returning soon, but he was sidelined with an illness.
The seven-year pro Ortiz has wins over Maurice Hooker, Egidijus Kavaliauskas, Samuel Vargas, and Brad Solomon. If Ortiz Jr loses, where does he go? Since Golden Boy has matched him against exclusively soft jobs, returning to that type of opposition could be a mistake on their part.
