Vergil Ortiz steps up to fight Tim Tszyu in August
Super-welterweight contender Vergil Ortiz Jr. (21-0, 21 KOs) anticipates a tactical showdown with Tim Tszyu (24-1, 17 KOs), despite coming off an emphatic first-round knockout victory.
The pair will collide on an Amazon Prime pay-per-view card, taking place at the BMO Stadium, Los Angeles, on August 3.
After stopping gatekeeper Thomas Dulorme with a sickening body shot in the first round of their bout last Saturday, Ortiz Jr offers some thoughts ahead of his next outing.
Speaking with Sean Zittel, the 26-year-old Texan said: “My advantage is that I’m able to adapt to whatever you throw at me; I can find the best solutions really fast; I have a high IQ.
“People think I’m just a come forward fighter. That’s up to them – I really don’t care. I know what I am, and what I do best is improvise.
“I already have an idea of how the [Tszyu fight is] going to go down – it’s going to be tactical. We don’t just throw soldiers out there to have a fight and see who wins.
“It’s a very tough fight. Those fights are difficult to predict. We will study [Tszyu]; we will see what we gotta do, what we gotta work on. That’s pretty much it.”
The pair will collide on the undercard of former undisputed welterweight king Terence Crawford as he attempts to become a four-weight world champion when he takes on Israil Madrimov for the WBA title at 154lbs.
Ortiz Jr, whose professional contests have all been promoted by Golden Boy on DAZN, will fight for the first time on a PBC show, featuring on a card that has been put together by Turki Alalshikh – the Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority in Saudi Arabia.
Coming off a split decision loss to Sebastian Fundora, Aussie star Tszyu will be looking to get back to winning ways when he takes on the destructive puncher.