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Bernard Hopkins says Vergil Ortiz Jr. will “outsmart” Israil Madrimov to defeat him of their combat in Riyadh on Saturday evening. Ortiz Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs) will defend his WBC interim junior middleweight title towards the previous newbie star Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs) in a 12-round combat that many followers view as a 50-50 contest.
(Credit score: Mark Robinson/Matchoom)
The punishment that Ortiz Jr. absorbed in his combat towards Serhii Bohachuk final August has modified his mindset about how he goes into fights now. He realizes that he can’t overpower his opposition at 154 like he’d been doing when he first bought there, and he destroys a few journeymen by first-round knockouts.
Madrimov misplaced his final combat towards Terence Crawford on August third as a result of he didn’t do sufficient within the latter a part of the combat when the match was nonetheless up for grabs. He can’t make that very same mistake towards Vergil Jr. and anticipate to win as a result of he can do all the pieces that Crawford can.
Ortiz’s Mind
“I’m a big fan of this man here because he’s all power and he’s destruction,” mentioned Sergio Mora to Golden Boy Boxing about Vergil Ortiz Jr. “What lots of people don’t give him credit score for is intelligence. It’s a must to be clever with that strain that Ortiz places on you.
“He finds a way out whenever he’s having issues with movers like he did against [Michael] McKinson. Yes, McKinson went into the second half of the fight. He figured him out [Egidijus] Kavaliauskas, who put him down, was fighting at angles. He was able to find a way there,” mentioned Mora.
“Vergil is going to outsmart him, and he’s going to continue to keep that space between them where he can work that jab,” mentioned Bernard Hopkins. “Oscar knows how to work that jab.”
That will be fairly a feat for Vergil Ortiz Jr. to outsmart Madrimov as a result of he’s not been the kind of fighter who relied on his ring IQ to win fights all through his profession. Vergil Jr. has all the time used his energy and dimension to win at 147 and 154.
His final combat towards Serhii Bohachuk was the primary time in his profession that he couldn’t run over with energy, and he needed to field within the championship rounds to get the victory. It was a controversial win for Ortiz Jr, however he bought it and moved on.
“Smart jab, jab, and on your toes,” mentioned De La Hoya. “Deal with the bull. It is a huge, huge card. It may be one of many greatest of all time. It truly is. You check out the previous fights, just like the Don King playing cards while you had Mike Tyson, Trinidad, and Julio Cesar Chavez.
