By Ian S Palmer
Jamaine Ortiz of Worcester, Massachusetts is back in action this Saturday, June 10th when he takes on Humberto Galindo of West Covina, California in a 10-round lightweight tilt. The fight from the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City can be seen live in America on ESPN+ and ESPN while fans in the UK can catch it on Sky Sports Action and those in Canada can catch it on TSN 5. Ortiz last fought in October when he lost a close 12-round unanimous decision to Vasyl Lomachenko. Galindo dropped Raymond Muratalla in the opening round in March but was dropped himself in the fourth round and stopped in the ninth.
The 26-year-old Ortiz enters the contest with a fine mark of 16-1-1 with 8 Ko’s and has boxed 99 rounds since making his pro debut in 2016. He enjoyed a pretty good amateur career but was beaten by the likes of Jaron Ennis, Teofimo Lopez and Gary Antuanne Russell before turning pro. He stands 5-feet-8-inches tall with a 69-inch reach and as far as power goes, Ortiz carries around a current knockout ratio of 44.4 per cent.
The lone draw on his record was an eight-round majority affair with Joseph Adorno four fights ago in April, 2021. He beat former world champion Jamel Herring via 10-round unanimous decision to retain the NABF Lightweight Crown and win the vacant IBF USBA Belt in May, 2022 and then took another step up in class against Lomachenko and handled himself quite well. Before meeting Herring, Ortiz had beaten the likes of Derrick Murray, Vitor Jones and Romain Couture.
Since turning pro Ortiz has also captured the vacant WBC Youth World Lightweight Title, the vacant WBC Youth Inter-Continental Super Lightweight Belt and the vacant WBC (USNBC) Silver Lightweight Title. Ortiz also took the vacant NABF Lightweight Championship with his win over Nahir Albright in February of last year.
The 23-year-old Galindo fights out of Mexico and climbs through the ropes with a 14-3-1 record with 11 Ko’s. He made his pro debut in 2017 as a teenager and has boxed 63 rounds since. Galindo measures 5-feet-8-inches tall with an unlisted reach, so is the same height as Ortiz. As far as power is concerned, Galindo has some pop with a current knockout ratio of 61.1 per cent. Hi last four wins have come by stoppage but he’s lost three of his last four contests.
Galindo’s first defeat came at the hands of Brayan Rodriguez by six-round split decision in January, 2021; to Artem Harutyunyan by 10-round unanimous decision last June for the WBC International Lightweight title and by stoppage to Muratalla the last time out. His lone draw was a four-round affair with Carlos Duran in his second pro outing. Just five of Galindo’s 18 opponents have had winning records and they were the last five and he went 2-3 against them.
Prediction…
Ortiz looked very impressive against Lomachenko and recently signed a promotional deal with Top Rank. Galindo is young but has struggled when stepping up in class even though he has pretty good power. I’m expecting Ortiz to bounce back from his loss to Lomachenko with a win here.
