Vergil Ortiz Jr. Extends His Knockout Streak By Stopped Michael McKinson
FightersTalkTV.com – The knockout streak of Vergil Ortiz Jr. continued after stopped Michael ‘The Problem’ McKinson in the ninth round in their fight at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, Saturday night. Talented Texan Ortiz (19-0, 19 KOs) retained his WBO International Welterweight title by winning with TKO over McKinson (22-1, 2 KOs), who was defeated for the first time in his eight-year pro career.
Ortiz extended his strong start to the year to win via technical decision with a ninth-round stoppage, which was his 19th knockout in as many fights. When it came down to it, the brutality of Ortiz’s shots wore McKinson down as the former stopped the Englishman at the 0:27 mark of the ninth round. But the top welterweight contender didn’t feel like he was at his best.
“Honestly, I thought I didn’t really do anything good (in the first seven rounds),” Ortiz told DAZN’s Chris Mannix in his post-fight interview. “I had to adjust big time. I should have listened to my corner from the beginning.
Talented Texan Vergil Ortiz Jr. continued his devastating winning streak with a ninth-round TKO over Briton Michael McKinson at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, Saturday night.
“I felt like I figured him out in the first round but just went away from it. My corner had the game plan laid out, my dad bitched me out for three or four rounds, and I finally listened to him, and we got him out of there.”
Ortiz and McKinson were initially scheduled to fight in March. The fight was postponed when Ortiz was hospitalized because of rhabdomyolysis. And Saturday’s bout, just a few miles away from Ortiz’s hometown of Grand Prairie, was considered a WBA eliminator. Ortiz will certainly maintain his status as the WBO and WBA’s No. 1 contender in the 147-pound division.
But McKinson proved to be a tricky opponent. He was slippery around the outside of the ring and roughed Ortiz up on the inside as well. Eventually, all the bodywork Ortiz’s corner asked for at the beginning of the fight manifested itself and paid dividends. In the final 30 seconds of the eighth round, Ortiz dropped the British fighter with a left hook to the body. McKinson went down in a similar fashion at the beginning of the ninth round. After he limped around the ring, his corner jumped to the top of the apron and threw in the towel.
“I know I was losing the fight. There was never a time when I thought I was going to get stopped,” confessed McKinson during the post-fight press conference. “I thought I was going to take him to points, being the first person to end that knockout streak. I really did.
Ortiz (right) dropped McKinson with a left hook to the body in the final 30 seconds of the eighth round.
“In round eight, he caught me with a body shot. It hit my hip bone. My whole side of me, I couldn’t use that side. The ninth round, he hit me there again and that was it.”
Ortiz floored McKinson with a wicked body shot that produced lingering effects. The 28-year-old from Portsmouth, England beat the count but favored his hip, where he was struck again in the opening seconds of round nine. It clearly affected his mobility, as detected by father and head trainer Michael Ballingall who signaled for referee Laurence Cole to end the fight.
The eighth-round knockdown marked the first time that McKinson has been down as a pro, thus eventually leading to his first defeat. Prior to that point, he remained confident of at least hearing the final bell.
“The plan was definitely to stay long and try and take it to the late rounds where he’s never been before,” McKinson revealed. “Then I would try to get to him mentally. I only took him one round deeper than he’s ever been but I still took him the furthest out of anyone.”
A path to a title remains tricky because of the landscape within the welterweight division. Errol Spence and Terence Crawford, who was ringside Saturday, hold all four major belts and are in talks for a potential undisputed title fight. In his postfight interview with DAZN, Ortiz acknowledged securing a title shot soon will be difficult because of that impending matchup.
But when it comes to taking on anyone else, he’ll fight whomever that opponent is.
Michael McKinson (left) had to be defeated for the first time in his eight-year pro career.
“As long as they’re involved with my path to a world title, I don’t care,” Ortiz Jr. said.
In the co-main event, Marlen Esparza successfully defended her WBA and WBC flyweight titles against Eva Guzman. Esparza controlled a high-action fight and won a unanimous decision 98-92, 98-92, 99-92.
Esparza (13-1, 1 KO) won her sixth fight in a row since her loss to current champion Seniesa Estrada in Nov. 2019. Guzman (19-2-1, 11 KOs), a mandatory challenger made her U.S. debut.”
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