By Aragon Garcia: Welterweight contender Vergil Ortiz Jr. is confident that he’ll be back in the ring in April to fight in California. On Wednesday, Ortiz’s scheduled March 29 fight against Samuel Vargas was postponed when the California Commission canceled all combat sports events for March. This was in reaction to the coronavirus pandemic.
Ortiz Jr. (15-0, 15 KOs) and Vargas (31-5-2, 14 KOs) were the headline attraction on DAZN at The Forum in Inglewood, California. The fight will eventually take place once Golden Boy Promotions are given the go-ahead by the Commission.
The Commission will make a decision next month in April whether to allow boxing matches to resume in the state. Ortiz, 21, can always look to fight in another state if the California Department of Public Health and the Commission choose not to let combat sports take place in April.
Unfortunately, if the coronavirus lingers into the summer months rather than disappearing, Ortiz Jr. could miss out on some great fights. Boxers have short careers anyway, and it would be a disaster for him to sit for 6 to 12 months waiting for the green light to fight again.
“Based on guidance issued by California Governor Gavin Newsom and the California Department of Public Health to protect Californians against the possible spread of COVID-19, the California State Athletic Commission is canceling all events through March 31,” the California commission said via ESPN.com. “CSAC will use this period to determine the next steps for moving forward with future events.
So all fights are being postponed for the month of March. This is nothing to worry about guys I can easily fight a couple weeks after in April or even May. I pretty much just went thru a whole training camp so I’m not gonna stop working out and should golden boy tell me that
— Vergil Ortiz Jr. (@VergilOrtiz) March 12, 2020
“You’re fighting next week are you ready” so please don’t be upset my 2020 return has only been postponed 💪🏼 we’ll be back soon. In California* should’ve added that lol,” said Ortiz.
Vergil’s card isn’t the only one that was called off. A number of other fight cards were canceled for March. Top Rank has two of their cards for March that will take place behind closed doors with no fans present. It’s unheard of to imagine a fight where there’s no audience. It would be like watching a gym workout, and it’ll be interesting to see how well those fights go.
Golden Boy Promotions hasn’t said anything about taking Ortiz to nearby Mexico to stage a fight in that country if none of the States in the U.S are willing to stage the fight. Thus far, Mexico isn’t canceling boxing for March or April, so that would be an excellent place to take Ortiz if he finds his career stalled out due to the coronavirus.