WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. (24-0, 22 KOs) kept his unbeaten record intact by obliterating Erickson Lubin (27-3, 19 KOs) by a second-round technical knockout on Saturday night at the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
The slow and fleshy-looking Ortiz Jr. stalked Erickson around the ring in round one, eating jabs and right hands from the challenger. Lubin’s, whose legs looked heavy, was barely able to stay out of the way of Ortiz Jr. during the opening round.
In the second round, Lubin repeatedly covered up on the ropes, trying to block Ortiz Jr’s shots, and throwing occasional counters. Erickson, 30, made a mistake and retreated to the ropes a second time in the round. Ortiz Jr. took advantage of his trapped prey, unloading on him with a storm of shots, with three consecutive clubbing right hands to the side of Lubin’s head, hurting him.
Once Lubin was hurt, Ortiz Jr. continued to pummel him, forcing the referee, James Green, to step in and halt the fight at 1:30 of round two. Lubin fell into the arms of the referee Green, who needed to hold him up to prevent his collapsing onto the canvas.
Immediately after the fight, Vergil Jr. invited Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis to enter the ring so they could discuss their next fight.
Vergil Ortiz Jr: “We’re ready for the best. We want to fight the best. Boots, come over here. This is the best fight in boxing. I think this is the fight that has to happen. I think this is it.”
Jaron Ennis: “I think he did a great job. He looked good. But I’m gonna show the world why I’m the best in the world, and I’m gonna show his team. They’ve been talking crazy, and I’m gonna back it up.”
At that point, Ortiz Jr. got into a childish, ‘No, you want, which resulted in Ennis saying, ‘Yes, I will.’ It was interesting how the two fighters appeared to regress to an early stage of development at that moment.