Photo: Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy
It's been a tumultuous 12 months for undefeated, 24-year-old, 147-pound sensation, Vergil Oritz of Grand Prairie. After the longest layoff of his young career and recovering from rhabdomyolysis, a potentially life-threatening condition that attacks the kidneys. Ortiz had his character attacked. After rumors circulated that he pulled out of the original McKinson date because he was walking around heavy and unable to make the 147-pound limit back in March. Ortiz said the criticism is blatantly untrue."They're giving people the wrong information, just straight up false information." Ortiz continued "camp and the weight cut were going fine. I was eating perfectly everything was going good and then everything went south." Ortiz described his condition as literally feeling like his better was falling apart. "We went to the doctor and they did some blood tests and discovered that my muscles were literally breaking down." The attacks on Ortiz bothered the younger fighter who prides himself on his work ethic "They were slandering my name, People who are up there [in the boxing world] with straight up false information."
The undue and inaccurate scrutiny got underneath the skin of Ortiz. However, it ultimately had no impact on his performance. Ortiz was business as usual Saturday night in Fort Worth at the Dickies Arena, in front of a crowd of around 6,500. Ortiz was hyped to be back in front of his home crowd saying, "It's a wonderful feeling having the whole [Dallas-Fort Worth] Metroplex have your back that's always a great feeling" After a bit of a feeling out process Ortiz got to work in the third snapping the head of McKinson with a vicious uppercut that left McKinson staggered and hanging on. Ortiz continued to stalk and ripped power shots to the head and body as McKinson was trying to run out the clock in the third stanza. McKinson was able to stay away and was able to even score a few clean shots with his southpaw jab and the occasional looping left hand. However, the issue was never in doubt. During the middle rounds, Ortiz showed his superior class. The Texan slowed the pace and sharpshooting from the outside and landed thudding head and body shots on the Englishman. McKinson would not cooperate and go quietly into that good night as he continued to circle and make Ortiz chase after him. However, the Grand Prairie stayed patient and got what he was looking for in the eighth a perfectly placed left hook McKinsons body that dropped him. A game and courageous McKinson was somehow able to get to his feet and run out the round. Ortiz said, "No, I wasn't surprised" that he got up. The end was near, however, as Ortiz picked up in the ninth, where he left off in the eighth. The hard-hitting Texan dropped his rugged opponent again with a body shot again McKinson was somehow able to beat the count and make it to his feet. Barely able to stand and clearly in tremendous pain, McKinson was allowed to continue for reasons unknown. After going into retreat and being unable to keep Ortiz off of him, McKinson's corner threw in the towel, and referee Laurence Cole stopped the fight 27 seconds into round nine.
The bout was deemed a title eliminator by the WBA. The WBA world champion is Errol Spence. Take a step back DFW fight fans. That's not the title Ortiz will be in line for. He will be mandatory for the "Regular" designation of the belt which is held by Eimantas Stanionis of Lithuania. The other and more lucrative option for Ortiz is WBO welterweight champ and an all-time-great, pound-for-pound elite, Terence "Bud" Crawford. Crawford expressed interest in fighting Ortiz, who is ranked number one by the WBO.