Glenn Mitchell is so confident Friday’s fight against Jamaine Ortiz will lead to bigger and better things, he actually expects to see his opponent again down the road with even more at stake the second time around.
“We are two future world champions,” Mitchell said. “The next time we meet, it will be to unify the major belts.”
For now, the two unbeaten lightweights will battle Friday night at Twin River Casino for basic bragging rights and the opportunity to keep their perfect records intact. The four-round Ortiz-Mitchell bout is one of 11 fights on Friday’s event, presented by CES Boxing.
Ortiz, the electrifying Worcester, Mass., native and former contender in the U.S. Olympic Trials, enters 3-0 following a hard-earned majority decision win over previously unbeaten Canton Miller in February. Fighting out of Steubenville, Ohio, the 6-foot-1 Mitchell ran his record to 2-0 with his second career knockout in February, his first fight in nearly two years.
The 26-year-old Mitchell is a bit of an unknown commodity, but the lack of background doesn’t faze Ortiz, who advanced all the way to Reno with a shot at qualifying for the Olympics despite not knowing much about any of the opponents he faced.
“In the amateurs, I never looked at film,” he said. “Why change it now?
“To me, it doesn’t matter what asset the opponent has. If I’m on my ‘A’ game, that’s all I worry about – me being on my ‘A’ game. A lot of people, like they say, have game plans until they get punched in the face. I feel like my power right now, and the way I hit people, they’re not going to do what they think they can do.”
Ortiz got a taste of it from the other side when he faced Miller, also an accomplished amateur who fought him tooth and nail over the course of four hard rounds in February, easily the toughest fight of Ortiz’s career after quick knockouts in his first two professional bouts.
“I felt alright. I got to go the distance. That’s something I did want to do,” Ortiz said. “I got to do a few things that we’ve been working on the gym and that’s what’s most important. I told one of the guys yesterday at the gym, ‘A sparring session is not who can beat up who or who can win in the gym. It’s about practicing.’
“What I liked was that what I practiced, I did. I like to see what I practice and that’s something I’ve been doing. Everything I practice, I’ve been doing and that’s the main goal.”
Instead of taking a step back, Ortiz faces yet another undefeated, relatively unknown, foe Friday at Twin River. His path at the professional level is a bit unconventional; rather than advance at a snail’s pace, Ortiz is ready to challenge himself more and more with each fight, not quite like Vasyl Lomachenko, the Ukrainian star who fought more than 300 amateur bouts and won a world title in his third professional fight, but perhaps somewhere in the middle.
Ortiz conquered nearly every challenge as an amateur. He turns 21 at the end of April. Now’s the time to see what he’s made of on the sport’s biggest, brightest stage — within reason, of course.
“A part of me really does because I truly believe I want to go out there and then a part of me always believes in the process,” Ortiz said. “I know everything a process and I know you can’t rush things, but a lot of times my body and my mind will be like, ‘I want to do it! I can do it now!’ and then it’s like I’m fighting with two sides of my body.
“That’s why I have a team that decides for me and they know me as well as I know me and they can help me decide on those situations.”
Tickets for April 7th are priced at $47.00, $102.00, $127.00 (VIP) and $152.00 (VIP) and can be purchased online at www.cesboxing.com, www.twinriver.com or www.ticketmaster.com, by phone at 401-724-2253/2254 or at the Twin River Casino Players Club. All fights and fighters are subject to change.
The event also airs live in its entirety on FITE TV Pay Per View for $14.99 beginning at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT. Fight fans can stream the event live on their television by downloading the FITE app free from iTunes or Google Play and using the instant stream-to-TV function for full-screen viewing, or watch online from any device at www.fite.tv. The FITE app also works with any Wi-Fi connected TV, iOS and Android devices, as well as streaming devices such as Roku, Chromecast and more. Replays will be available for those unable to watch live.
Cranston, R.I., vet Nick DeLomba (11-1, 2 KOs) faces Jimmy Williams (12-0-1, 5 KOs) of New Haven, Conn., in the 10-round main event for the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) USNBC Welterweight Title. Also fighting April 7th, Springfield, Mass., vet Zack Ramsey (7-1, 3 KOs) battles unbeaten Augusta, Ga., native Divante Jones (9-0, 6 KOs) for the vacant New England Lightweight Title.
Junior middleweight Ray Oliveira Jr. (7-0, 1 KO) and Portland, Maine native Casey Kramlich (6-0-1, 3 KOs), face one another in the six-round co-feature and Lynn, Mass., welterweight Khiry Todd (2-0, 2 KOs) battles Coconut Creek, Fla., pro debut Adriano Moraes in a four-round bout.
Junior welterweight Jonathan Figueroa (2-0, 1 KO) of Hartford, Conn., returns to Twin River to face Springfield’s Miguel Ortiz (1-0, 1 KO) in a four-round showdown between two rising New England prospects and amateur standouts Ricky Delossantos of Providence, R.I., and Philip Davis of Worcester make their professional debuts against one another in a four-round super featherweight bout.
In addition to the highly-anticipated championship main event, April 7th features an eight-round female welterweight showdown between Aleksandra Magdziak Lopes (16-4-2, 1 KO) of Marshfield, Mass., and Mexican challenger Paty Ramirez (11-3, 5 KOs). Joining Aleksandra Lopes on April 7th is her stepson, Arturo Lopes (1-0), who ends an eight-year layoff in his return bout against Taunton, Mass., welterweight Marqus Bates (1-1, 1 KO). The Lopeses fight April 7th in honor of the late Manny Lopes, a former CES standout who passed away in December and will be inducted into the CES Ring of Honor.
Junior welterweight Cristobal Marrero (3-0, 2 KOs) of New London, Conn., by way of Worcester, returns for the first time since December in a four-round bout against New York’s Sidney Maccow (4-4, 3 KOs) and Worcester super middleweight Kendrick Ball Jr. (5-0-2, 4 KOs) puts his unbeaten record on the line against Rhode Islander and U.S. Air Force vet Zachary Christy (1-0-1) in a six-round bout.