WBC interim junior middleweight champion Virgil Ortiz Jr. says he immediately agreed to fight Israel Madrimov after Jaron 'Boots' Ennis decided not to fight him on the February 22 card in Riyadh.

Virgil Jr. doesn't have to be involved in another controversial decision going his way as he looked bad for a controversial decision win in his last fight against Serhii Bohachuk. If he gets too many of these, it will limit his star power.

Low output concerns

Madrimov has the skill and ability to make it tough for Ortiz Jr., but he doesn't throw a lot of punches, which would give Virgil Jr. a significant advantage. He is too busy.

In Madrimov's loss to Terence Crawford, he didn't throw enough in the championship round and was outworked. It was a winnable fight, but he let Crawford get the better of him despite his inferior strength, size and youth. Terence just wanted more of it. Virgil Jr. and his team probably saw Madrimov's low output, which may have been one of the reasons they agreed to fight him. He can be outworked.

Ortiz Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs) said it “motivates” him in training camp as he prepares to fight a good opponent. However, he has only fought one good opponent in his nine-year career, defeating WBC interim 154-lb champion Bohachuk via a very questionable 12-round majority decision in Las Vegas on August 10th of last year.

Virgil was knocked out twice by Bohachuk, hitting the first and eighth decks. He protested the first knockdown, saying it was a slip, but replays showed it was a knockdown.

Many boxing fans lost to Virgil, and they felt he got a decision gift over the Ukrainian fighter. Ortiz Jr. received a lot of criticism from people when he chose not to give Bohachuk a rematch to clear up the controversy. Al-Sheikh the Turk could have insisted that he fight, and Virgil Jr. probably would have. This never happened, so now Virgil is following a dark cloud.

Other than Bohachuk, the only notable win on Virgil's resume came against Egidijas
Kavaliauskas. He was stunned early in the fight but somehow survived to score a knockout in the eighth round.

Can Madrimov win?

“It's a great fight on paper. He had a great fight against Crawford. He did really well. Even though he lost, it's not a performance you can be ashamed of. He did great,” Virgil told Ortiz Jr TalkSport Boxing Regarding Israel Madrimov's recent loss to Terence Crawford on August 3rd.

“We were going to have a 'boot' fight, and the fight was over. So, I was thinking, 'Am I still fighting on the card?' It was kind of up in the air, and then I got a call from my dad, 'Will you fight Madrimov?' I'm like, 'Yeah, I will. It's a great fight.' I said yes because he is a tough fighter.

“I am a very competitive person. It motivates me in training camp when I know I have a tough fight ahead of me. It keeps me focused. I know there's a lot on the line (against Madrimov), but I like it. It gets the adrenaline pumping,” Virgil Jr. said.

This will be Virgil's second good opponent in his career and it will be interesting to see how well he performs. 'Little GGG' Madrimov can punch with both hands, and has exceptional boxing skills. Again, he doesn't have high output, and his stamina is on the downside. He gassed against Crawford in the championship round.

Ennis the duck?

“Can we talk about boots for a second because you two had a bit of an argument,” Gareth A. Davis told Virgil Jr. what happened when he and Jarron 'Boots' Ennis didn't fight. “It's a fight we all want to see. You two have had 40-odd fights. Do you think he (Ennis) is avoiding you? There are arguments about weight and all that.”

“I don't think he's avoiding me. I think there's someone on the team that's lying,” Ortiz Jr. said of his belief that no one on Ennis' team is being truthful. “As us boxers, we are not negotiating. We are not communicating. We have managers for a reason.

“I'm not saying it's his manager because there are a lot of people who come to play. I can't say who it is because I don't know who it is. I just know for us, we said, 'Yes.' I believe so. It's a fight that has to happen,” said Ortiz Jr. when asked if he believes he will eventually fight Jaron Ennis.