Oscar De la Hoya, president of Golden Boy Promotion, wants to match his boxer, the sub-midweight rising star Virgil Ortiz Jr., to challenge WBC, WBA, IBF treble winner Errol Spence, and Hoya hopes the match will also be played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Last week, Spence won a major victory at at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, where he lost injured 10 rounds against Cuban star Jodenis Ugas.
Since Otiz is also from Texas, is a fellow countryman with Spence, and the two have met in actual combat, if they compete, it is bound to cause a huge sensation in the local area, so Hoya wants to do his best to promote this confrontation. However, Spence poured cold water on Hoa, and he formally rejected Otiz, bluntly saying that he would not waste time on the other party. Spentstein said there was only one target next, and that was WBO sub-welterweight Terence Crawford.
Hoya expressed on Twitter his desire to facilitate the battle between Spence and Otiz, who made it clear that he would play against Crawford before rising to the 154-pound super midweight.
The 24-year-old Otiz has 18 wins, 18 KO opponents, a knockdown rate of 100%, and is a well-known killer in the 147-pound middleweight, but according to sources, Ortiz is currently struggling to control weight, he was scheduled to play against Briton Michael McKinson last month, but unfortunately quit due to health reasons.
Ortiz's last match was last August, destroying former World Champion challenger Agidous Kavaliskas, but before knocking down his opponent, Otiz was hit by a heavy punch from Kavaliskas and looked precarious. At present, it is not clear what Otiz's next steps are, and if he continues to delay, it is estimated that he will be away from the field for a year.
Otiz is now ranked first in the WBC sub-middleweight, and theoretically he qualifies to force a challenge to Spence, but WBC has not approved the match, considering that Spence next hopes to face Crawford, the two sides will compete for undisputed supremacy, then the relevant boxing organizations will definitely give the green light, in this case, Ortiz is even more difficult to get a chance to fight Spence.
From Spence's point of view, he had no need to touch Otiz at all, and it was better to have this energy than to fight for Crawford. Crawford, who left his old club Bob Arum, is currently a free-range boxer after knocking out Sean Porter last November.
It is reported that Spence's PBC plans to sign Crawford, but it is rumored that the PBC wants to play a game before Crawford vs Spence, the opponent may be the former boxing champion Keith Thurman, which is not a good thing for Crawford, it is nothing more than willing to take risks, if Crawford defeats Thurman and then plays against Spence, then the influence of the game will increase sharply, if so, Spence can also play an adjustment game before the big battle against Crawford, maybe consider Otiz It's just that in my opinion, Spence's battle with Otiz is not worth the loss, and perhaps it is more appropriate to choose an influential but very safe boxer.