By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten welterweight prospect Vergil Ortiz Jr of Dallas, Texas will be meeting Samuel Vargas of Bogota, Colombia in Indio, California this Friday, July 24th. The 12-round bout can be seen live in most nations via DAZN. Ortiz stopped Brad Solomon in the fifth round in his last fight in December. Vargas last fought in June of 2019 when he beat Silverio Ortiz via an eight-round unanimous decision.
Ortiz is one of the hottest prospects in boxing right now as the 22-year-old owns a perfect record of 15-0 with 15 Ko’s. His 100 per cent knockout record means he’s a feared puncher with excellent power. He turned pro in 2016 and has boxed 38 rounds since. Before that he enjoyed a fine amateur career by winning National Silver Gloves Titles from 2012 to 2014. He also won a National Under-17 Crown in 2013 and placed second a year later. In addition, he placed second at the 2016 National Golden Gloves Championships.
Since turning pro Ortiz has captured the vacant NABF Junior Super Lightweight Title. His biggest wins have been against Solomon, Antonio Orozco and Mauricio Herrera. He was also the first man to stop Herrera. Ortiz has also beaten the likes of Jesus Alvarez Rodriguez, Juan Carlos Salgado, Roberto Ortiz and Jesus A Valdez Barrayan. Ortiz, who trains with Robert Garcia, stands 5-feet-10-inches tall with a 70-inch reach.
Vargas was born in Colombia, but now calls Toronto, Canada his home. He’s 31 years old and has a record of 31-5-2 with 14 Kos under his belt. Vargas turned pro back in 2010 and has 255 rounds to his name since then. He’s 5-feet-9-inches tall with a 72-inch reach, so is an inch shorter than Ortiz with a two-inch edge in reach. Vargas’ draws were against Mauro Godoy last year and with Tebor Bosch in 2011.
In his five career defeats, Vargas was stopped by Errol Spence Jr. in the fourth round in 2015, dropped a 10-round unanimous decision to Pablo Munguia 2013, was stopped by Danny Garcia in the seventh round in 2016, dropped a 12-round unanimous decision to Amir Khan in 2018 and a 10-round split decision to Luis Collazo last year. Other than Khan, Spence, Garcia and Ali Funeka, most fans won’t recognize any of Vargas’ other opponents. He doesn’t possess much in the way of power with a current knockout ratio of 36.8 per cent.
Vargas did manage to drop Khan in the second round of their bout and was dropped himself in the second and third rounds. Vargas is also a solid pro with a lot of heart but he’s had problems when stepping up in class. There’s no shame in being stopped by Spence and Garcia though. Since turning pro, Vargas has captured the Canadian Welterweight and WBA-NABA Canada Super Welterweight Title as well as the WBA-NABA Welterweight crown.
Prediction…
This will be a decent test for Ortiz as Vargas is a solid pro. However, Ortiz’s possesses too much speed and power for Vargas at this stage of their careers. I’m expecting Ortiz to keep his 100 per cent knockout ratio intact on Friday.
