After nearly two years of dealing with health complications due to rhabdomyolysis, Vergil Ortiz Jr. is ready to revive his career.
Ortiz (19-0, 19 KOs) will return to the ring Saturday night to take on Fredrick Lawson (30-3, 22 KOs) at the Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas on DAZN.
The 25-year-old Ortiz will be fighting for just the second time since August 2021.
Ortiz made some monumental changes to prepare himself for his comeback fight. The former welterweight contender has moved up a weight class and has also reunited with former trainer Robert Garcia.
Ortiz and Garcia amicably split in 2021 and the rising knockout artist linked up with esteemed coach Manny Robles. Ortiz and Robles had one fight together, an August 2022 ninth-round TKO win against Michael McKinson.
Ortiz and Robles were supposed to next take on Eimantas Stanionis, but the snakebitten fight fell through multiple times.
Ortiz ultimately hit the reset button on both the weight class he’d be fighting at and the coach who’d be guiding him.
“Now that he’s back, we’re doing it right. Vergil looks very comfortable, very happy. He feels like he’s back at home. He works very hard. He’s very dedicated,” Garcia told BoxingScene.com in an interview.
“He’s a great person, a great kid. We never had any personal problems. It was about little decisions that I made in some fights. I was having trouble getting my bigger guys to spar Vergil because he was too powerful and too strong. We had some trouble getting the right sparring partners for Vergil. So all of that led to them finding another gym but we never stopped being friends. We were always communicating with each other.”
After more than two years away from each other, Garcia said he’s been tasking the power-punching Ortiz to improve his defense, footwork, and speed.
“He’s always had good defense because his offense is his defense. He’s so strong and so aggressive,” said Garcia. “He’s big and strong and I think he can compete at 160. We’ll decide during this fight if he has trouble making the weight.”
Ortiz and Stanionis were supposed to fight for the WBA “Regular” welterweight title, and now, the Texan will have to set his sights on winning a world title in a new weight class.
The 2012 trainer of the year Garcia is game for the challenge, and the journey begins this weekend against the Ghanaian contender Lawson.
“I think together with [father and coach] Vergil Sr. we’re going to make Vergil a world champion,” said Garcia.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer, and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com, or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.