Ortiz stopped McKinson

Andrew Karlov Aug. 7, 2022, 4:57 a.m.

Virgil Ortiz Jr.

In the WBA welterweight eliminator, the rising star is an American Virgil Ortiz Jr. (19-0, 19 KOs) put on a show for his hometown fans by stopping the Brit Michael Mackinson (22-1, 2 KOs) in the ninth round in the main event of the evening at the Dickey Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. McKinson was also knocked down in the eighth round. The time of stopping the battle is 0:27.

Thus, Ortiz Jr. retained his WBO international title, and now he hopes for a long-awaited fight for the world title.

Oscar De La Hoya, Ortiz Jr.'s promoter, said at Friday's weigh-ins that he was doing everything he could to get his charge a long-awaited title shot against Terence "Bud" Crawford or Errol Spence Jr. Ortiz Jr. was No. 1 in the WBO for a very long time. Crawford, who was at ringside that evening, said he would fight Ortiz Jr. if his team failed to reach an agreement with Spence.

“We have a plan for Virgil to get other champions to fight him, to make him the mandatory challenger in the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO. We just have to make them fight,” De La Hoya said. - Virgil does what he has to - he fights. So in the end, the champions will have to fight him, there is no escaping from Virgil. This is our path, it's #1 in the world of all versions, so once Crawford and Spence fight, Virgil will come out on top."

Ortiz Jr. was pleased to hear that his career is moving forward and he may soon get a chance to compete for the welterweight title.

“I am very happy, glad how far my business is going, I myself am going to go to the end,” Ortiz Jr. said after the fight.