Knockout artist and the pride of Grand Prairie, Texas, Vergil Ortiz Jr (18-0, 18 KOs) is back in the ring against top 10 ranked undefeated 147-pound contender of Portsmouth, Great Britain Michael McKinson (22-0, 2 KOs) in the main event at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, TX on Saturday, August 6. The bout is scheduled for twelve rounds at welterweight.
Ahead of the showdown the local favorite hosted a virtual media roundtable. Check out below what he had to say.
Tickets for the event are on sale and can be purchased through Vivid Seats and TicketNetowork.
Other boxing fans can watch the fight live stream on DAZN. The date when the event airs live in the UK and Australia is Sunday, August 7.
‘I don’t feel like I will have a home field advantage at Dickies Arena’
“Michael McKinson is ranked by the WBO, he’s undefeated, it would look good on my resume if I defeat him. He’s a good fighter.”
“[Spence vs. Crawford] I want my shot with whomever, it doesn’t matter to me.”
“We just made some changes here and there, in terms of my training. Not huge changes, but overall I feel 100% now. We are ready to go. I really want to get back into the ring. By the time I fight this August, it will almost be a whole year. I would love to fight at least twice this year and stay even busier next year.”
“I was very disappointed that I didn’t get to fight [on March 19] especially since we found out I wasn’t able to go on, literally, the week of the fight. It’s not like I wanted to waste a whole training camp and some months before that; that’s not me. I did see Michael McKinson fight that night. I didn’t think too much about it. First of all, he fought someone who had a completely different style than I. But we are aware of how he fights, so we have a little more tape to go off of.”
“My time away will not have any impact on me. These last few weeks in sparring I have been doing really well. I feel great, I feel like I have been fighting every week. So, I don’t think my time away will have any impact on my performance at all.”
“I don’t feel like I will have a home field advantage at Dickies Arena. Definitely the people will be on my side; but I feel like regardless of where I am at, whenever I land punches the crowd erupts anyway. So I don’t see it as an advantage.”
“I have learned things from all the different coaches that I have been with. Every coach has their own point of view, they all have different styles. One thing that I have learned from Manny is to be really explosive with my punches. Don’t waste time reacting, don’t think about it. Because if you think about it you get stuck and then you can make mistakes.”
The list of bouts featured on the Ortiz Jr vs McKinson undercard is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
The post Vergil Ortiz Jr ‘100% ready’ to face Michael McKinson – ‘It would look good on my resume if I defeat him’ appeared first on FIGHTMAG.