Vergil Ortiz Jr. and David Avanesyan have agreed to a deal for a welterweight clash in the summer on August 6th on DAZN in Fort Worth, Texas.
Golden Boy Promotions deserves a lot of credit for allowing the young 24-year-old Vergil to take this fight against the hard-hitting Avanesyan because this isn’t a gimme. Avanesyan is a huge puncher, and he’s not going to be an easy out.
The venue still needs to be confirmed, but it’s believed to be taking place at the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, according to Mike Coppinger of ESPN.
Ortiz (18-0, 18 KOs) is coming back from a medical illness from last March that wiped out a fight against Michael McKinson.
There’s no word yet if the fight will be an eliminator, but with Ortiz’s #1 rankings with the WBA, WBC & WBO, it would seem hardly necessary.
Vergil is in a position to fight for a world title, but he’s got to wait for the smoke to clear from the undisputed 147-lb championship fight between champions Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford.
#7 WBO Avanesyan (29-3-1, 17 KOs) is the toughest fight on paper for the 24-year-old Ortiz Jr. for his entire six-year professional career.
Ortiz recently stopped Egidijus ‘Mean Machine’ Kavaliauskas in the eighth round last August in Frisco, Texas. Kavaliauskas hurt Vergil in the second round of that fight.
Ortiz kept his composure and came back to drop Kavaliauskas five times in the fight before stopping him in the 8th.
Taking on the equally heavy-handed Avanesyan is another big test for Ortiz, but if he passes this one, he should be ready to challenge for a world title.
It’s unclear whether Vergil will get a shot at the Spence vs. Crawford winner for the four belts at 147 because both guys are expected to move up to 154.
If the titles get fragmented, the winner of the Ortiz vs. Avanesyan fight will go after one of the belts against Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis or Conor Benn.
Avanesyan and Ortiz share a common opponent in Kavaliauskas. While Ortiz got past Kavaliauskas after suffering a minor scare in the second round, Avanesyan was knocked out by him in the sixth round in 2018.
Ortiz will be coming off a year-long layoff when he meets Avanesyan in the main event on DAZN on August 6th. It shouldn’t be too much of a problem, though, because Ortiz is young, and he trains a lot.
Avanesyan has stopped his last seven opponents and looked great since his loss to Kavaliauskas. His best win was a sixth-round stoppage of Josh Kelly in 2021.
