It’s been reported how unbeaten welterweight contender Vergil Ortiz has once again seen his fight with Eimantas Stanionis suffer a postponement, this time being the third time the Ortiz-Stanionis fight has been postponed.
Yahoo! Sports reports that Ortiz fainted yesterday and that he does not feel well enough to go ahead with Saturday’s scheduled fight, which would have seen the Texan challenge Stanionis for his WBA world welterweight title.
As fans may recall, the Ortiz-Stanionis fight was originally set for January, only for Stanionis to have to pull out due to his undergoing emergency appendectomy surgery; then, in April, Ortiz withdrew from the new date due to his suffering from rhabdomyolysis. It’s not clear what medical issues Ortiz is suffering from this time, but of course, we all wish him a speedy recovery.
Shelly Finkel spoke with Yahoo! Sports, and he said Ortiz was taken to a local hospital after the fainting episode.
“He [Eric Gomez] called me and said, ‘[Ortiz] fainted last night and was taken to the hospital, and we’re waiting on the doctors to know if there’s a fight.”
Now, however, it’s official: the fight is off. Again.
“Nothing is more important than the safety of our fighters, and we, of course, support Vergil’s decision 100 percent,” an official statement from Golden Boy Promotions reads.
The card in San Antonio, Texas will still go ahead, with Floyd Schofield now facing Haskell Rhodes in what has been promoted to the main event.
While we have sympathy for Ortiz, 19-0(19), who has fought just three times since July of 2000, this due to medical issues, it’s as bad for Stanionis, if not more so. As Finkel explained, Stanionis, 14-0(9) gave up a mandatory shot at Errol Spence’s WBA “super” welterweight title, this to allow the super-fight between Spence and Crawford to go ahead. Now, the Lithuanian is left with no fight.
“It’s horrible for the kid [Ortiz],” Finkel said. “I feel so badly for Eimantas. But what can you do? I don’t know if there’s an other option to take and then fight that [bout against the Spence-Crawford winner]. I am preserving all of Eimantas’ rights. I’m going to have our lawyer send a letter to the WBA pointing out that it’s not our fault. They agreed and felt bad for Eimantas. He’s won a title and hasn’t been able to defend it.”
It seems the Ortiz-Stanionis fight is well and truly cursed. Again, our sympathies to both fighters.