In preparation for his upcoming fight on April 29 in Arlington, Texas, Vergil Ortiz, Jr. has had to pull out of his main event versus Eimantas Stanionis for the WBA regular welterweight world championship due to a flare-up of rhabdomyolysis. Ortiz was originally diagnosed with the condition in March 2022. He is expected to make a full recovery and return to the ring later this year.
“Vergil works tirelessly to prepare for his fights and this is of course a huge disappointment for Golden Boy, him and his family,” said Chairman and CEO Oscar De La Hoya. “Despite this setback, I truly believe Vergil remains focused and will accomplish his goal of becoming a world champion this year and going on to become the top welterweight in the division.”
More information on the April 29 event will be announced shortly.
He got it again?! I just saw an interview with Roy Jones where he said he had it and it almost killed him.
At least he pulled put well in advance this time. Too bad Ennis could not step in. Politically though Oscar could put Rocha or even Cobbs in there. I know Rocha is supposed to get a shot at Crawford but depending on the money Stanionis might be a better direction for him. Heck…he could put Crawford in but I doubt they could make the money work without making it a PPV and it might be short notice for that.
I actually think Cobbs has left GB, Pete. Rocha would definitely be the obvious choice. It’d be an easier path to him for a title than fighting that other guy lol. But I think they’ll just postpone again for Ortiz. Ortiz REALLY needs to get this worked out. He’s 25 now, not even in his prime – would hate to go through your best years getting fights postponed constantly.
I know Stanionis would likely brutalize Cobbs. But if Cobbs is no longer there maybe he can go with King and fight Broner. Rocha is the choice if the money is right and they decide to save the event. I think the issue with Ortiz is very worrisome. I am no Dr. but this could be tougher then any opponent he will ever face and even if he gets past it…it may eventually take something out of him. This is a game where one must strike while the iron is hot and time can be of the essence.
Oooooh! Cobbs – Broner would be all kinds of interesting even wayyyyy before the first bell actually rang. That’s a good one Pete.
Yeah Stanionis would roll over Cobbs and I’d pick him over Rocha as well, but that would be a pretty good fight imo and it’s probably worth it to anyone because I can’t imagine Spence is coming back to the division (unless he’s fighting Crawford and he isn’t, so……) so whoever wins Stanionis’ next fight is likely to be the full champion pretty soon.
One of my favorite things is trying to think up interesting matches that are a little out there. I posted a little while back that Carson Jones who had a fight recently could get in on the Broner mix as well. That Jones I think might be a Freddie Pendleton type. He got a bad deal in the Margarito fight and gave Kell Brook all he could handle. These fights may not amount to much…but I think they could be fun.
Let Stanionis give Butaev his rematch. Butaev can beat Cobbs, Broner, Rocha, and will give any current welterweight including Spence living hell.
That is a good point. It was a close fight the first time and very entertaining. Butaev does beat Cobbs and Broner might even destroy them. May very well beat Rocha too. The only issue is who has him promotion wise and is he in shape to take the fight on short notice. Granted he would have a month!
Butaev certainly isn’t getting this fight. I can’t imagine Oscar putting up $2m for a fight and not having one of his guys in it. Either they postpone it again and let Ortiz keep the shot or they give it to Rocha, imo. But Stanionis – Butaev 2 someday would be another hell of fight.
He can totally avoid this condition by doing one simple thing. Stop weight draining to 147. It’s 100% the cause because it only ‘flares’ up when he’s in camp trying to make this tiny weight for his size.
Welp, that was the only fight that I kept DAZN for.
Now I can finally dump that shit app.
It would be wise for top fighters to avoid scheduling a contest vs Ortiz. Unfortunately with his dramatic health decline Ortiz can not be counted on fulfilling his contractual duty to compete in the ring. The result is he is wasting a lot of peoples time and money.
Also, with this health decline can Ortiz be expected to compete at the high level that we are all used to seeing? He’s talking about coming back at the end of the year, meanwhile I’m pondering whether he needs to retire from the ring for good.
Rhabdomyolysis: Exercising in hot, humid conditions or while taking creatine supplements, ephedra diet pills, or energy drinks with high doses of caffeine also increases your risks
Best wishes to Vergil, health comes first, and I am still a fan of both him and Stanionis. But I am so glad I cancelled DAZN last month. I was only looking forward to this fight from their lineup.
ESPN+ has a new subscriber!
That’s how you know it’s working!
Ortiz the quitter stool sitter boxn appointment missn bum what’s the problem with you now bad case of roids from sittn in the docs office tryna to get a miss the boxn appointment you world class quitting clown
For the folks who don’t understand the seriousness of this.
Rhabdomyolysis is a serious condition where damaged muscle fibers leak into the blood, causing kidney and heart problems, or even death.
Praying for your recovery champ.
Thanks for your Insight Dr copy and paste. LOL
Praying he isn’t a dirty fighter.
He is a middle fighting at welter, so it’s hard to make the weight.
If the rhabdomyolysis diagnosis is true he likely wont be top level fighter for much longer. Dont see it getting much better considering the physical demad from his training.
Hoping Ortiz recovers but will be risky making fights for him going forward.
this is a very serious condition. you don’t really get over it, its just the way his body works unfortunately. i think he cuts too much weight and ends up losing muscle which causes this. poor guy. it could cut his career short.
Wow, the second part of your paragraph completely discredited the first part. It’s not the way his body works and yes he can get over it. You just articulated it, crudely albeit, within the second part of your paragraph. This condition of his all goes away by one simple career choice. Move up to either 154 or 160, where he will proceed to get brutally knocked out because he’s a crude fighter who loads up on his punches like all mexican fighters. They have to boil down to these unhealthy weights so that they’re fighting smaller people, because pound per pound they’re the worst fighters on Earth. Eastern European and Asian Fighters are by far the greatest fighters on Earth, but the North American boxing establishment cannot accept that fact.
Lol, OMG. His Whatchamacallit won’t flare up if he stops trying to make a weight that he’s too big for. Mexican fighters are the most overrated in the world as all of them don’t feel they can compete against fighters their own size. Ortiz wouldn’t be able to manhandle the Junior middleweights with his crude style, so he puts his body at risk trying to make 147. David benavidez is in for a rude awakening if he ever steps up to the top guys at 175, who probably all walk around at the same weight, or in Bivol’s case less than, that he does.
Jab caused. He will never be the same. Millions have been killed and many more injured from mrna experiment..