LIVE: Ortiz Jr vs. Vargas Weigh In Results & Livestream

By Boxing News - 07/23/2020 - Comments

By Max Seitelman: Vergil Ortiz Jr will be facing Samuel Vargas this Friday, July 24, LIVE on DAZN at the Fantasy Springs Resort in Indio, California. Ortiz-Vargas will take place without fans. Weigh in results:

Vergil Ortiz Jr 147 vs Samuel Vargas 146.6
Shane Mosley Jr 159.4 vs Jeremy Ramos 160
Seniesa Estrada 107.8 vs Miranda Adkins 106.8
Hector Valdez 121.6 vs Josue Morales 120.6
Evan Sanchez 147 vs Issouf Kinda 144.6

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If Ortiz looks sensational in beating the experienced Vargas, we could soon see him facing the upper-tier contenders in the 147-lb weight class. Ortiz must look good in this fight Vargas is someone that has been stopped in the past by Danny Garcia and Errol Spence Jr, and he’s not a world-beater.

Vargas isn’t the type of opponent for Ortiz that will motivate a lot of boxing fans to reactive or subscribe to DAZN in high numbers, but it’s possible that we could see a trickle of fans coming back. Where we might see subscribers coming back to DAZN is in August when they have a handful of decent but not great fights involving these fighters:

  • Dillian Whyte vs. Alexander Povetkin
  • Julio Cesar Martinez vs. McWilliams Arroyo
  • Jorge Linares vs. Javier Fortuna
  • Srisaket Sor Rungvisai vs, Amnat Ruenroeng

That’s pretty much it as far as compelling match-ups go for August on DAZN. The rest of the stuff is Matchroom’s British domestic level fighters from their Fight Camp shows. In other words, obscure fighters battling it out.

Image: LIVE: Ortiz Jr vs. Vargas Weigh In Results & Livestream

Ortiz in a showcase fight

The 22-year-old unbeaten Ortiz (15-0, 15 KOs) will be defending his WBA Gold Welterweight strap against Vargas (31 5-2, 14 KOs) in a 12 round fight, but this should end early. Ortiz has been knocking everyone out, and Vargas lacks the pedigree to end his KO streak.

Golden Boy is lobbing a softball to Ortiz in matching him against Vargas, and he should be able to do whatever he wants against this guy.

In Ortiz’s last six fights, he’s beaten these fighters:

  • Antonio Orozco
  • Mauricio Herrara
  • Brad Solomon
  • Jesus A Valdez Barrayan
  • Roberto Ortiz
  • Juan Carlos Salgado

The Colombian Vargas, 31, is well below the opponent that Ortiz Jr wants to fight in Terence Crawford, but he’ll have to settle for him. Without fans.

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Ortiz will need to wait a year or two before he gets a chance to fight Crawford. However, by then, Crawford may no longer be the WBO welterweight champion because he’s expected to fight Errol Spence Jr soon.

Hector Tanajara Jr vs. Mercito Gesta in chief support bout

The Ortiz-Vargas card begins at 8:00 p.m. ET. On the undercard, lightweights Hector Tanajara Jr (19-0, 5 KOs) and former world title challenger Mercito Gesta (32-3-3, 17 KOs) battle it out in a 10-round bout in the co-feature bout.

Many years ago, Gesta was seen by some as the next Manny Pacquiao. That didn’t happen, unfortunately, as he suffered several losses to Miguel Vazquez, Jorge Linares, and Juan Antonio Rodriguez.

The 23-year-old Tanajara Jr. doesn’t have much in the way of power, so he’s going to be forced to go the full ten rounds for him to win. It won’t be easy or him because Gesta, 32, can punch, and he’s not someone that you want to leave around for an entire fight because he can do damage.

Gesta comes into Friday’s fight with a 1-2-1 record in his last four matches, and that’s a big hint for WHY he’s been picked to face Tanajara Jr. Golden Boy is trying hard to develop Tanajara Jr., and they’re not going to mess that up by putting the light-hitting prospect with someone tough.

Image: LIVE: Ortiz Jr vs. Vargas Weigh In Results & Livestream

Tanajara Jr. is in the same boat as Ryan Garcia is in terms of him being young and still with a big question mark over his head. Tanajara’s lack of power is already a massive strike against him, but it won’t stop him from beating Gesta.

When Golden Boy eventually moves Tanajara Jr. against world-class fighters, he’s going to have problems if he’s still unable to punch with authority.