The stakes just got higher for Vergil Ortiz of Grand Prairie and Mikey "The Problem" McKinson of Portsmouth, England. Saturday's main event at the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth between unbeaten welterweight prospects is now a WBA title eliminator. Meaning the winner will be the mandatory challenger for the WBA world title. Ortiz is ranked highly for the WBA and WBO world titles. A win for Ortiz will mean he will be ranked number one in the WBO, a belt held by Terence Crawford, and the mandatory challenger for the WBA held by Errol Spence of Dallas. McKinson said he "found out 5 or 10 minutes before they announced it." Mckinson added he "was not surprised" and that he'd be happy to return to Texas to fight Spence, should he beat Ortiz on Saturday night.
Ortiz is considered by many to be the best young prospect in the sport, and an all-Texas shootout with Spence has long been dreamed of by Texas fight fans, with AT&T stadium being the absolutely ideal home for the fight. Spence, who also holds the WBC and IBF titles, is rumored to be in heavy discussion for a unification bout with Crawford. Unifications typically take precedence over mandatories. However, that fight is far from being made. If that fight does not come off, Ortiz will be in a position to possibly pick which of the belts he wants to fight for. He'd be ranked in the top spot by both organizations. Ortiz and trainer Manny Robles both expressed no preference and were more than open to fighting either of the two welterweight champions.