Vergil Ortiz Jr. ended his 17-month layoff in less than a round Saturday night.
The hard-hitting, 25-year-old Ortiz hurt huge underdog Fredrick Lawson with a jab and stopped him just 2:33 into the first round of their main event at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. Ortiz, who fought above the welterweight limit of 147 pounds for the first time, kept his perfect knockout streak intact (20-0, 20 KOs) by winning their 12-round, 156-pound bout.
The win wasn’t particularly satisfying for Ortiz, however, because referee Tony Weeks drew criticism for halting the action too early.
“I wish I coulda kept going,” Ortiz told DAZN’s Beto Duran in the ring. “I need the rounds. But hey, I was hurting him with the jab. I stunned him with the jab, and I didn’t even land it that hard. I’m sorry, but hey, I’m ready for anyone out there.”
The Ghanaian-born, Portland-based Lawson lost by knockout or technical knockout for the fourth time in his career (30-4, 22 KOs).
With just under 40 seconds to go in the opening round, Ortiz buckled Lawson’s legs by landing a hard jab. An aggressive Ortiz moved in to finish off Lawson, who backed into the ropes, and landed multiple body shots.
That’s when Weeks stepped between them and ended their fight because, as he told Duran, that Lawson’s eyes rolled back in his head. Lawson was still standing when Weeks stopped their fight.
The 34-year-old Lawson protested the second strange stoppage by Weeks over the past 7½ months. Weeks previously drew the ire of boxing fans and media because the veteran Nevada referee peculiarly, prematurely ended the Rolly Romero-Ismael Barroso bout in the ninth round last May 13 at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
Barroso, who was ahead on all three scorecards, also remained on his feet and wasn’t badly hurt when Weeks stopped that fight.
Coincidentally, Venezuela’s Barroso (25-4-2, 23 KOs) dropped England’s Ohara Davies (25-3, 18 KOs) twice and won by first-round knockout on the undercard Saturday night. The 40-year-old Barroso won the WBA interim super lightweight title and secured a rematch with Romero (15-1, 13 KOs), who was in attendance.
Celestino Ruiz was the referee for Barroso-Davies, not Weeks.
Before he finally fought again Saturday night, albeit briefly, Ortiz’s career was beset by physical difficulties that caused him to withdraw from three fights since March 2022.
The Grand Prairie, Texas native pulled out of his previous two bouts, both against WBA world welterweight champion Eimantas Stanionis. Ortiz withdrew the first time last March due to rhabdomyolysis, a damaging muscle condition, and the second time six months ago because severe dehydration and heat exhaustion landed Ortiz in the hospital two days before he was scheduled to face Lithuania’s Stanionis (14-0, 9 KOs, 1 NC) on July 8 at AT&T Center in San Antonio.
Ortiz was diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis in March 2022, when he was forced to postpone his fight with England’s Michael McKinson for four months. The former welterweight contender stopped McKinson (26-1, 4 KOs) in the ninth round of their rescheduled bout in August 2022 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
Ortiz told krikya360.com recently that three specialists informed him that he is no longer afflicted with rhabdomyolysis. Though his victory over Lawson didn’t last long, Ortiz was simply pleased to have been physically able to complete a fight.
“You know, it felt like I’m back to doing what I usually do,” said Ortiz, who called out WBO junior middleweight champ Tim Tszyu. “You know, this is my calling. This is what I live for. And I wanna continue doing this.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.