Xander Zayas reportedly next to face Vergil Ortiz

Not sure what to believe anymore. Boxing is a hot mess. Due to Virgil's style and health, his time is NOW.

 

Vergil has been saying he was ready for 3/4 years. Turki during this time has verbally offer a Crawford fight to Canelo, Fundora, Murtazaliev, Boots, & now Ortiz. Canelo and Fundora got official with amounts and dates. Crawford didn't turn down a Crawford fight, he stated that the fight didn't interest him. There's nothing to gain by beat Ortiz. Crawford is looking to cash out and/or add to his legacy..... Let's be honest, how does Ortiz provide either of those 2 for Crawford? He's had a fight at his new weight division a guy who was stopped 5x, a guy who was stopped 4x, and another legit puncher, but, it wasn't a dominant performance vs a fighter whom was flat foot and available to be hit.

This is why the Boots/Ortiz fight was intriguing because you have a couple names that have been hyped to be the potential future of the sport, yet neither has done anything to elite competition to suggest they are a certified top shelf fighter.

 

There's nothing "alleged" about it. The WBO stated that they offered the fight to Ortiz. Oscar, when asked about it stated that they felt the Stanionis fight was a higher priority for Ortiz at the time. Which was a total 180 from what they had said the year before when they were claiming Ortiz would stop Crawford. Stanionis was not a big payday, big name, title holder, ppv draw, etc.... How was he a higher priority for Ortiz who was a mandatory for a title shot vs Crawford. Go ahead and ignore the history because other than you trying to claim the WBO was lying about offering the fight and get people to think Oscar didn't openly say Stanionis was the go to over Crawford, you don't have a logical argument for that.

Again, NOW, like in TODAY.......Ortiz still is not pushing for a Crawford fight. He won't even say his name unless someone specifically askes him about Crawford. Yes, fans would love to see it, but obviously, Crawford has ZERO REASON to gun for Ortiz who has nothing to offer Crawford. Ortiz should be the one gunning for Crawford and HE'S NOT DOING THAT. Crawford has talked about unification bouts over the cours of this year (2024)..... He chanted about the Canelo fight the end of last year, but no ground has been gained on it. Even with Turki in the middle of it. I think fans and YouTube Channels talk more about Canelo fighting Crawford than Crawford does these days.

How it plays out.......I nor you don't know, but, we've yet to see Crawford bicycle all night vs any opponent and Crawford has almost always been the smaller guy. His IQ was able to get him to break down many fighters whom walk around as big or bigger than Canelo. Like Shawn Porter who came into Omaha, NE for Crawford's parade. He took a pic with my grandson. Porter was north of 200lbs easily. And he wasn't out of shape. Benavidez easily could have made weight for the middle or super middle weight division. Errol Spence Jr was at one time rumored to be negotiating a fight vs Canelo pre-car accidents. Madrimov fought at 165lbs a great deal of his amateur fights. He's a bigger guy as well and was still hurt by Crawford 4x in that fight. He respect Crawford's punching so much that he would even exchange with Crawford for the entire first half of the fight.

Crawford has shown himself to be stronger, more durable, a better boxer, and more mobile than all of those fighters. Crawford knows his ability much better than these Canelo fans claiming he's simply going to get in there and get knocked out. If he didn't think he could compete/win, he wouldn't have ever mentioned the Canelo fight last year. I personally don't know how it would play out which is why I wouldn't mind seeing it, even though I doubt it happens. I'm more rooting for him to fight for the titles at 154lbs. Now if Turki can make the Murtazaliev fight happen for Crawford and Ortiz can somehow get the Fundora fight out from under Spence's nose.....the fight would make more sense on Crawford's end.

We gotta stop picking and choosing which guy we want to hype up to be elite because it's not making any sense. On one hand you have a 10x world champ, 2x undisputed champ, 3x Lineal champ who everyone want to claim he's fought no one and/or, they develop excuses as to why he's been so dominant vs the 14 world champions he's faced (6 of them were undefeated going into the fight). But then turn around in the same since and get ultimate props to a couple of fighters who's biggest wins are vs the guys Crawford has already stopped..... (Dulorme, Kavaliauskas, & Avaneysan).

 

Xander Zayas needs a remix of Falco's Rock me Amadeous but instead of "Amadeus Amadeus ..." Just substitute "Xander Zayas Xander Zayas oh oh oh rock me Xander Zayas"

 

That’s exactly the problem, he’s just a pure boxer. What makes me so high on Ortiz is the fact that he’s been able to set up consistent attacks on all styles. If you wanna beat Ortiz, you need to out fight him like Bohachuk. I like Xander and think he’s got the goods, but he’ll be overwhelmed by Ortiz..

 

I'm not going to pretend Xander can't hurt Ortiz with accurate shots and lower his workrate. He's naturally bigger, Kavaliauskas almost dropped Ortiz, and Bohachuk has already been brutally stopped. IMO this is a simple case of underrated vs overrated and Zayas will exploit him loading up on shots

 

Xander is a smooth operator Markus, that's going to be a good fight.

 

Nevermind, Ortiz is apparently facing Israil Madrimov instead. Styles make fights I actually think Ortiz has a better chance against Madrimov than Zayas

 

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Yeah I heard the news, that card is insane. Ortiz should do well against Madrimov since he doesn’t really wait for counters. All that feinting and upper body movement likely won’t deter him like it did to Bud.

 

I'm not in slightest bit insinuating that Virgil beats Bud or that Bud is afraid of Virgil. Although anything can happen in the ring, there is no reason for me to think Virgil can beat Bud without somehow landing a heavy blow, but that is very unlikely.

However, I am saying that Turki wanted to stage a fight between Bud and Virgil. Virgil and Oscar are both on record welcoming such fight and Turki is on record stating that Bud is not interested in fighting Virgil. Turki is on record stating that Bud only wants to fight Canelo.

You are correct in stating that there is nothing for Bud to gain by beating Virgil, except a good purse, definitely not Canelo money, but good by Turki standards, but Virgil doesn't hold a legit title at 154 either. It's understandable that Bud wouldn't be motivated to face him. I don't hold it against him, just as I don't hold it against Canelo for not being interested in fighting Bud. Very similar circumstances for both men.

Now, as a boxing fan, I might feel different, but I'm just a fan and not in their shoes....

 

I think we are both seeing eye to eye on the situation. Just think we are speaking from 2 different vantage points.

I totally agree, Bud is to Virgil what Canelo is to Bud in the since of the risk/reward factor. Only thing is, at least Canelo would be facing a certified HOFer. For him to state that he would get no credit for that is a bit ignorant on his end, especially being that he willfully took the Amir Khan fight without hesitation.

It is true that Turki sees the Vergil fight as very lucrative for Crawford, but again, that's another man wanting a match up for Vergil that he isn't all in on. I don't doubt that Vergil would get in the ring and give Crawford some issues to sort out from round to round, but from what he's shown up to this point, Vergil himself hasn't shown any urgency in sharing the ring with Crawford. I as a fan would like him to come out and just state that he wants to fight Crawford, the same way Crawford said he wanted Keith Thurman and Manny Pacquiao and now Canelo Alvarez.... Fights he never got, but it was clear to everyone that he was gunning for those matchups. I just don't see that with Vergil in regards to Crawford. He doesn't speak on Crawford willingly. Only in response to someone asking him about Crawford.

Like you, as a boxing fan, I'm not in their shoes, so I can't tell any fighter how to handle their career/health/brand. But as a boxing fan, I would love to see this and other matchups as long as it's the fighters who are asking for it and not their handlers. The best fights in history are involved with 2 individuals who wanted that bout as much or more than the promoters/fans. I'm not sure what type of fight we would get if Vergil was to share the ring with Crawford today. I would expect a disappointment, honestly. Similar to how disappointed I was with Madrimov getting in the ring and refusing to engage with Crawford like he did vs his previous opponents. Madrimov never seems confident in his abilities. It looked like he was more focused on not getting countered and/or hurt for majority of that night.

 

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