By Jake Donovan

Robert Diaz can’t help but laugh every time he’s assigned blame by the court of public opinion whenever a Golden Boy Promotions fighter takes a loss. 

There’s no questioning that several young fighters among the company’s stable have taken their lumps in recent weeks. The disturbing trend mirrors that of Golden Boy’s early years, which saw several prospects and even a few notable boxers bumped off before finally producing its first homegrown champion in Abner Mares.

From there has come one of the top promotional companies of the 21st century, though to this day still recruiting talent with the understanding they won’t be babied. With that comes this weekend’s offering in Grand Prairie, Texas where all eyes will be on Vergil Ortiz, Jr.

 

The unbeaten knockout artist from the greater Dallas area gets a homecoming headliner in a dangerous welterweight scrap with California’s Antonio Orozco. The bout tops a DAZN-streamed bill this Saturday, with curiosity as to whether Ortiz (13-0, 13KOs) can preserve his perfect knockout to win ratio—or his unbeaten record in general.

“I’m excited about this fight,” Diaz told Golden Boy of Saturday’s main event. “It’s similar to the feeling we all had when he was preparing to face Mauricio Herrera earlier this year. The thought that night was, will he do something that nobody else has done, or will the veteran contender get the best of him? 

“Well, we all saw what happened. Vergil rose to the occasion in a way few expected.”

Ortiz certainly did something nobody else was able to accomplish, and couldn’t have asked for a bigger stage to make such a statement. The 21-year old knockout artist not only kept his perfect run intact but became the first to stop Herrera, doing so in less than seven minutes on the undercard of Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez’s middleweight title unification win over Daniel Jacobs this past May at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.

Saturday will already mark his third fight of 2019, a year which began with the longest fight of his career in going a whole five rounds with durable southpaw Jesus Valdez in January. 

No matter the efforts to test him, Golden Boy continues to watch its young rising prospect tear through the competition. Do they listen to the criticism and not put him in fights that can risk that run, or do they roll the dice and hope for the best?

“Look, if we saw Vergil struggle with Mauricio, or even earlier this year with the southpaw kid when he fought in Houston, then sure we slow him down,” Diaz admits. “But when you give him fighters who never been stopped and he’s running through them like nothing, you have to keep raising the bar.

“This kid is a future star, and it’s not just us saying it. Everyone in the industry sees it. So we have a responsibility to make sure he’s developed the right way and not just fed soft touches. With these shows, these fights, there has to be the possibility of a 50/50 outcome. If you know who’s going to win before even turning on (the fight), then why even watch?”

It’s a path that Ortiz’s opponent can very much appreciate. Orozco (28-1, 17KOs) was shown a lot of tough love on the way up, both through Golden Boy and the expert leadership of managerial guru Frank Espinoza Sr. The all-action Californian endured his lumps on the road to contention, showing his heart throughout in an eventual clear loss to unbeaten titlist Jose Ramirez last September.

Orozco rebounded with a win earlier this year in what was his last fight at super lightweight before following Ortiz Jr. up the scale to welterweight for their upcoming collision. 

“Once again, Vergil is faced with an opportunity to do so much more than just win,” notes Diaz. “Antonio Orozco was all heart against Jose Ramirez, who couldn’t stop him but has gone on to become the unified world champion at 140 pounds.

“Vergil Ortiz has a chance to make a real statement here, maybe stop the guy that went 12 hard round with a great champion like Jose Ramirez. Or maybe Antonio Orozco turns it around and becomes the first to beat Vergil Ortiz Jr. There’s no guarantee, and these are the scenarios we love as matchmakers. We have a responsibility to entertain the fans.” 

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for krikya360.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox