Speaker 1: It is my great pleasure to welcome back as a
Speaker 1: guest Where podcast once again, top junior middleweight contender in
Speaker 1: the world, the Virgil Ortiz Junior. Virgil, thank you so
Speaker 1: much for being on with me today. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: We have a lot of discuss have you been, Yeah, we.
Speaker 2: Do, man, Thanks for having me on. First of all,
Speaker 2: I've been. I've been really good man. You know, train
Speaker 2: has been going well. You know, this year has been
Speaker 2: great for me.
Speaker 3: This is my third fight this year and everything's going good.
Speaker 2: Everything's going as we expected.
Speaker 1: We're going to get into all that, so we'll let
Speaker 1: the folks know. You have a I would guess actually
Speaker 1: from the stakes anyway standpoint, maybe even the competition standpoint,
Speaker 1: the biggest and best and toughest fight on paper anyway
Speaker 1: of your career, You're going to take on the WBC
Speaker 1: Interim Junim middleweight title holder Sari Boachik in a really
Speaker 1: interesting fight in my opinion anyway, You'll fight him on
Speaker 1: August the tenth. It'll be the Golden Boys main event
Speaker 1: on his own at one of my all time favorite
Speaker 1: venues in the in the in boxing in the world,
Speaker 1: Mandalay Bay. The michelob Ultra Arena. I know it's been
Speaker 1: a long time. I'm coming for you to get a
Speaker 1: fight like this, but I got to go back and
Speaker 1: discuss how it got to this point. It's a great
Speaker 1: matchup started off, go ahead, not glad, I was gonna say. Originally,
Speaker 1: your next fight was supposed to be what was a
Speaker 1: fantastic fight that everybody seemed to be awfully excited about
Speaker 1: against him Zoo for the WBA interim title at one
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty four pounds. They were going to put
Speaker 1: that on the big August third card in Los Angeles,
Speaker 1: the first ever riadd Seasons card in the United States.
Speaker 1: A huge card, you know, Terrence Crawford in the main
Speaker 1: event fighting for the WBA full title against Madromov in
Speaker 1: the main event, and just a loaded show. But to
Speaker 1: many people, Virgil, your fight with Zoo was the best
Speaker 1: fight on paper on that card. And then we know
Speaker 1: what happened. Zoo had the injury, the cut from the
Speaker 1: previous fight in March against Fandora. He was ruled out
Speaker 1: by his doctor and so that fight was off. And
Speaker 1: then there was a lot of sort of talk, you know,
Speaker 1: he'll stay on the card, they'll find a different opponent
Speaker 1: for you that didn't happen. So I want to just
Speaker 1: hear from you, like sort of like the emotional roller coaster.
Speaker 1: You're on this great matchup, your opponent's out, Maybe you're
Speaker 1: gonna stay. Now you're off the card, They're gonna try
Speaker 1: to get you a new opponent. Now you have a
Speaker 1: new date. Now you're fighting Boachek for for a different
Speaker 1: version of the interim title. Was it a little bit
Speaker 1: of up and down for you over the couple of
Speaker 1: weeks that was going on.
Speaker 3: Uh, you know, it's uh, throughout my career, gone through
Speaker 3: my ups and downs, and at this point, I'm kind
Speaker 3: of I'm not really surprised.
Speaker 2: About any of it anymore.
Speaker 3: It's just just how the sport is and uh, things
Speaker 3: can happen. So I kind of, honestly, I kind of
Speaker 3: expected it, Like I didn't want to get my hopes
Speaker 3: too high, because you know, I tend to get.
Speaker 2: Disappointed, you know, Like I was supposed to fight We
Speaker 2: were in.
Speaker 3: Talk spot to fight Thurman one time. Man, I was
Speaker 3: super excited about that one, and you know, it didn't
Speaker 3: end up happening. I don't think I've ever said this before,
Speaker 3: but those even talks with Manny Pacia at one time.
Speaker 2: When I stuff, I don't know when it was.
Speaker 3: I was the wb A goal and he was the
Speaker 3: WBA Champions to and so that would talks, very low talks,
Speaker 3: but you.
Speaker 2: Know that ignited like some kind of hope in me.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, this could actually happen, you know.
Speaker 2: And of course it didn't.
Speaker 3: Happen, obviously, but uh, you know, I think I'm gone
Speaker 3: through these uh these really highs and after the highest
Speaker 3: and low because you know it didn't happen, I'm just like, man,
Speaker 3: you know what, I'm just if it happens, it happens.
Speaker 2: If it doesn't, I'm just gonna I'm just gonna keep
Speaker 2: on my thing.
Speaker 3: So with this Tims you thing, uh, you know, I
Speaker 3: was really excited. I was happy that, you know, his excellency.
Speaker 3: You know, he was like, hey, will like you on
Speaker 3: the card, and uh what about.
Speaker 2: The Tims you fight? Like shit, helly do the Tims
Speaker 2: Youth fight.
Speaker 3: But back in in the back of my head, I
Speaker 3: was just like, something could happen. You know, he just
Speaker 3: had a horrible cut, and I thought about that exact
Speaker 3: same you know that you know, that thing that that
Speaker 3: could potentially prevent the fight from happening, and that's what
Speaker 3: it ended it up to be. As far as now,
Speaker 3: we've got a big fight WBC interim with Sergey.
Speaker 2: You know, and uh, it's it's gonna be a good fight.
Speaker 2: You know, we should spare a lot, so, uh, I
Speaker 2: know that I know exactly what kind of fight it's
Speaker 2: gonna be.
Speaker 1: Well, we'll get to that, but you can start by
Speaker 1: telling me what kind of fight is it gonna be?
Speaker 1: When you say that, I'm intrigued.
Speaker 3: There's it's gonna be uh, close quarters the whole time range.
Speaker 3: There's there's gonna be no boxing.
Speaker 1: Well, the way you described your situation, it seems to
Speaker 1: me that in the years of your career you've grown
Speaker 1: some wisdom, like you kind of it seems like you
Speaker 1: are able to more maintain and even keel because of
Speaker 1: there's so many emotional ups and downs with fights that
Speaker 1: are made not made, injuries, cancelations, postponements. Do you feel
Speaker 1: like that any of the stuff that comes your way
Speaker 1: you can deal with now with you know, whatever it
Speaker 1: may be when it comes to that type of situation, Yeah.
Speaker 3: I'm I think I don't want to say I've been
Speaker 3: through it all. You know, I can't say that, but
Speaker 3: I think I've been through my fair share. I think
Speaker 3: I'm mentally prepared for everything at this point.
Speaker 1: What was it like when you thought that, you know,
Speaker 1: you're off the August third card. There were still conversations
Speaker 1: going on because I think Golden Boy and Bochek's promoter,
Speaker 1: Tom Loffler, I think a lot of the fans and
Speaker 1: media were like, yeah, I mean, okay, I'm not really
Speaker 1: sure why the Saudis didn't want to include that particular fight,
Speaker 1: even if maybe it wasn't the same name recognition as
Speaker 1: at Tim Zoo, where you were sort of in that
Speaker 1: limbo area where you weren't sure if they were going
Speaker 1: to make that fight for you or maybe some other fight.
Speaker 1: You know, you're gonna get your own date. Obviously, Design
Speaker 1: and Golden Boy work together, so they've been featuring you know,
Speaker 1: you and other fighters on Golden Boys, so that didn't
Speaker 1: really seem to be the issue. But were you concerned
Speaker 1: at all that you would have another longer layoff because
Speaker 1: of what happened with the postponment or cancelation of the
Speaker 1: Zoo fight.
Speaker 3: I don't think so, because you know, we did have
Speaker 3: some options, you know, and you know we will with Seray,
Speaker 3: which I believe is the hardest option that we could
Speaker 3: have went with, you know, but I feel like it's
Speaker 3: the one with the most opportunity, and you.
Speaker 2: Know that's that's one that we chose to to go.
Speaker 2: And you know, I'm not want to shy away from
Speaker 2: a heart fight. You know, this is exciting for me.
Speaker 2: This is why I'm in the sport. You know.
Speaker 3: I want to give the heart I want to give
Speaker 3: the exciting fights. I want to be a part of them.
Speaker 3: That's what motivates me to chain, you know.
Speaker 2: And I mean that's it.
Speaker 3: I mean, I just want to I just want to
Speaker 3: show down the bets because.
Speaker 2: I believe I am.
Speaker 1: So when you go in this, in this fight, and
Speaker 1: even if you had gone in the fight with Zoo,
Speaker 1: You're gonna be fighting for an interim world title. It's
Speaker 1: not a full world title, but it's obviously a little
Speaker 1: more meaningful than no title. What is your position on
Speaker 1: sort of and what does it mean to you that
Speaker 1: it's for an interim title. Some guys are like they
Speaker 1: love it. Some guys realize it's a stepping stone to
Speaker 1: a big title. You know, certain guys we've seen in
Speaker 1: recent times. I just interviewed Boots and it's not that
Speaker 1: long ago. He he was elevated from interim to full
Speaker 1: and Walter wait because Crawford moved up and wasn't going
Speaker 1: to fight him. So what's your take on the interim
Speaker 1: aspect of these title fights?
Speaker 3: So I am grateful for the opportunity for sure. You know,
Speaker 3: it's uh, it's it's a belt. It's just because it's
Speaker 3: the insterim doesn't mean nothing. But what I recognize myself
Speaker 3: as a world champion, No, because you know, that's just
Speaker 3: you're the vice president.
Speaker 2: You know, just because you're the vice president, you're not
Speaker 2: the vice president.
Speaker 1: I've been doing this a long time, man, I have
Speaker 1: written about interim title fights and interview guys a thousands.
Speaker 1: I have never heard anybody referred to it as the
Speaker 1: vice president. That is absolutely perfect. We perfectly said that's
Speaker 1: that's how it is.
Speaker 3: You're the vice president. You know, like you know, when
Speaker 3: when people think of the president of the United States,
Speaker 3: you can.
Speaker 2: You know, corredate that like the world champion. We don't
Speaker 2: think of.
Speaker 3: Kamala Harris or Joe Biden when it was Obama. You know,
Speaker 3: that's just not to bring politics into it.
Speaker 2: That's just how you know. So anyways, uh, you know,
Speaker 2: I don't I don't bring anyone down when.
Speaker 3: I say that.
Speaker 2: Just for me, I just I won't be satisfied. And
Speaker 2: so I have the actual title.
Speaker 1: Now you mentioned that you and sorry bull check of
Speaker 1: sparring sessions together. Is it a lot of rounds or
Speaker 1: a little rounds or like, how how much do you
Speaker 1: know them from the ring experience with him? And then
Speaker 1: you know, not a real fight obviously, but just in
Speaker 1: a sparring session of a lot a lot of rounds with.
Speaker 2: Him, we've we've gone a few rounds.
Speaker 3: He actually not only you know, when I was with
Speaker 3: Manny Roebliz over there was I sparing him, but he
Speaker 3: actually got me ready for the mean machine fight.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 3: He came from South to Riverside when I was still
Speaker 3: at Roberts and we were sparring there too, So I'm
Speaker 3: very familiar with him.
Speaker 1: And of course that means he's familiar with you. But
Speaker 1: you're twenty one and o with twenty one knockouts. He's
Speaker 1: twenty four and one with twenty three knockouts. Not a
Speaker 1: lot of distant fights when it comes to you guys.
Speaker 1: First of all, you know, I know that it's not
Speaker 1: a full actual fight, but you must feel some power.
Speaker 1: I guess, if he's got that many knockouts, what kind
Speaker 1: of punching power does he has? From your recollection, because
Speaker 1: he does have so many knockouts, you're both obviously punchers.
Speaker 2: I would I wouldn't say that his knockouts come from power.
Speaker 2: He does have some. It's more consistent. You know, he
Speaker 2: has a really good conditioning. I would just say it's
Speaker 2: the pressure. Yeah, I feel like the main.
Speaker 1: Reason now when when you go into the ring you
Speaker 1: do have it. As I mentioned the perfect knockout record.
Speaker 1: I wonder when you get to the point where you're
Speaker 1: twenty one to oher and got twenty one knockouts, is
Speaker 1: it all in the back of your mind or meaningful
Speaker 1: to you to continue the knockout shriek?
Speaker 3: Well, you know, sometimes I do think about it before
Speaker 3: the fight, but when I'm in the fight, I'm just thinking,
Speaker 3: all right, how.
Speaker 2: Am I going to avoid this?
Speaker 3: How am I going to wear that? How am I
Speaker 3: going to get to him? You know, And then it
Speaker 3: just comes into play. And then next thing, you know,
Speaker 3: if I see an opportunity, I just.
Speaker 1: I just I jump on it, all right. So when
Speaker 1: you guys were the fight got announced. And then on
Speaker 1: July eleventh, the day that Golden Boy had arranged for
Speaker 1: the press conference for you and Boltchak to kick things off.
Speaker 1: Right before the press conference, Golden Boy announced that you
Speaker 1: and the company had agreed to a contract extension to
Speaker 1: keep you with Golden Boy for the next period of time.
Speaker 1: How did how How did that? I mean it got
Speaker 1: done I guess kind of quick relative to when the
Speaker 1: fight was announced to is this something that was being
Speaker 1: worked on for a while, and just how do you
Speaker 1: feel about having that sort of stability and that your
Speaker 1: business situation is handled before this big fight for you?
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course.
Speaker 3: I mean we knew that the previous contract was was
Speaker 3: coming to a close, and we're just thinking, okay, so
Speaker 3: like how are we doing this?
Speaker 2: You know, like just talking to Golden Boy, like you know,
Speaker 2: what's up? And it took some times.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't say it took a whole lot of time,
Speaker 3: not like it took a whole lot of convincing, because
Speaker 3: you know, we work well with each other. You know,
Speaker 3: it's just ironing out, you know, the small things. And
Speaker 3: I mean I'm like I said before, I'm very happy
Speaker 3: to be here. Goldenway has always treated me in the
Speaker 3: best way. I'm very happy here, and why would I
Speaker 3: go anywhere else?
Speaker 1: No, I just wanted to ask, because it's it's, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, in sports in general, whether it's box or otherwise. Uh,
Speaker 1: some people like yourself, they don't necessarily think the grounds greener,
Speaker 1: and they're comfortable with their circumstance. They got themselves a
Speaker 1: deal they're happy with financially, and whatever else goes along
Speaker 1: with that. Other guys, like other sports, want to test
Speaker 1: the market and see what else is out there for them.
Speaker 1: So I'd always sort of gauge the mentality of the
Speaker 1: athlete of what they're thinking.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, true. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Unfortunately, here for me, I was very fortunate to you know,
Speaker 3: found a great promoter and all that stuff, you know,
Speaker 3: and it's just it really is a blessing to be here.
Speaker 1: I feel like Virgil, it's sort of like the opposite
Speaker 1: of what we had talked about in a couple previous
Speaker 1: times when we've done interviews where unfortunately we had to
Speaker 1: talk about, you know, no fights in twenty twenty three
Speaker 1: because you had the medical issues and the postponements and
Speaker 1: the ultimate cancelation of the amount to stanielons fight just
Speaker 1: a one fight in twenty twenty two. Now fast forward
Speaker 1: to where you are sitting here today. You're one of
Speaker 1: the busiest top names in the sport. You got two
Speaker 1: fights under your belt already in twenty twenty four. You
Speaker 1: got a third fight that we're talking about here against
Speaker 1: Bochek coming up on August tenth. How does it feel
Speaker 1: for you now to finally be like it feels like
Speaker 1: in a groove, regular fights, irregular activity, you know, fight,
Speaker 1: take a little time off, training camp, get a fight,
Speaker 1: get paid, you know, all the things that go along
Speaker 1: with it.
Speaker 2: It feels really good, man. And I'll tell you what
Speaker 2: I think. The thing I like the most about it is, uh,
Speaker 2: the activity is keeping me sharp.
Speaker 3: Like sometimes I would go back to the gym and
Speaker 3: I'm like, goddamn, Like I'm rusty as hell, Like I
Speaker 3: don't make these mistakes, you know, But when I go
Speaker 3: back to the gym, I'm just like, damn, like I
Speaker 3: feel like I haven't, like I didn't take any time off,
Speaker 3: and I'm just I'm sharp as ever. Like this, I
Speaker 3: could give me like two weeks of conditioning and I'll
Speaker 3: go another tour ground.
Speaker 1: I'm like, like fair to say you don't need as
Speaker 1: long as a training camp. You don't need like ten
Speaker 1: weeks if you've already fought and you've been active. Am
Speaker 1: I wrong?
Speaker 2: That's kind of a hard one.
Speaker 1: I say that because partly part of training camp, you
Speaker 1: know you're making the weight if you if you fought recently,
Speaker 1: you know you don't have that much time to go
Speaker 1: crazy in terms of moving, you know, going up and
Speaker 1: and and the weight and you're and you're just like
Speaker 1: you said, you stay sharp, you stay conditioned.
Speaker 3: Yeah, as far as as far as that you know,
Speaker 3: the physical aspect, No, I'm good. And you know even
Speaker 3: mentally the mental clarity is still there, and uh it is,
Speaker 3: it's getting better as I'm staying more active.
Speaker 1: So we talked about the activity. So the two fights
Speaker 1: you had were Frederick Lawson and then you had to
Speaker 1: fight with Thomas Lormet. So on the good hand, it
Speaker 1: seems like you're as active as can be relative to
Speaker 1: the other names in this you know, the top names,
Speaker 1: and maybe it's bad, maybe it's good. You tell me,
Speaker 1: do you knocked them out in the first round? I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously as the old saying goes, you don't get paid
Speaker 1: for overtime, and it's always good to get a big
Speaker 1: win and get a knockout, but it is only less
Speaker 1: than two full rounds. Is that a positive or negative?
Speaker 1: As you go into this fight?
Speaker 2: So you could you can see it both ways. I
Speaker 2: see it as a positive pause. The first one.
Speaker 3: We came up a long way off. We needed to
Speaker 3: see how how if I was still the same or not.
Speaker 3: You know, I feel pretty rusty physically and mentally. But
Speaker 3: you know what, we we got a good training campaign,
Speaker 3: we got some good sparring h and we got that
Speaker 3: fight out of the way.
Speaker 2: Thomas the Lord man.
Speaker 3: You know this fight, I felt I was starting for myself,
Speaker 3: kind of getting into that group again. Not quite there,
Speaker 3: but like you know what, I'm I'm I'm feeling better.
Speaker 3: This is seeming kind of familiar again.
Speaker 2: And uhh, when.
Speaker 3: We find him, I was expecting to go in my opinion,
Speaker 3: I thought the fight was gonna end like in four
Speaker 3: five rounds.
Speaker 2: But I was just.
Speaker 3: When I got him out of there in that first
Speaker 3: round without trying to, and I saw everything in so motion,
Speaker 3: I just hitting with that body shot, I was like, okay, Yeah,
Speaker 3: that's where I'm back. Like that's it, and now that
Speaker 3: I've started this camp, definitely feel like I haven't left
Speaker 3: the gym at all. It's I'm I'm the best I've
Speaker 3: ever been.
Speaker 1: Well on your fight with Thomas Lormey, who I've known
Speaker 1: for many years and have nothing but love for Thomas Lommy,
Speaker 1: a great guy. My prediction on that fight was Virgil
Speaker 1: Ortis in the first round, So I feel like I
Speaker 1: did a pretty good job on that one.
Speaker 2: I did.
Speaker 1: So now that you've had the two fights that we mentioned,
Speaker 1: you got this fight coming up with Bulichak. If everything
Speaker 1: goes how you hope it goes, and you win this fight, Uh,
Speaker 1: it's only gonna be August. There's still plenty of time
Speaker 1: left this year. Are we gonna see Virgil Ortiz in
Speaker 1: the ring a fourth time in twenty twenty four? Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was a quick answer. Yeah. So yeah, then the
Speaker 1: question becomes, I mean, I know you got to fight
Speaker 1: the fight, and it's uh, you know, uh, you know
Speaker 1: that's what's right in front of you. But you're weight class.
Speaker 1: You know, August third, the week before you fight, you're
Speaker 1: gonna have Crawford Mademov a good chance at Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: Crawford is crowned the champion. If it's Magemov, he's pulled
Speaker 1: the humongous upset and he becomes a big name. He's
Speaker 1: still got Fondora out there, who's gonna come back from
Speaker 1: his issues probably at the end of the year. Uh,
Speaker 1: Tim Zuo is gonna be ready to fight at some point.
Speaker 1: He's you know, just because he can't go in August
Speaker 1: doesn't mean he can't fight at some point later in
Speaker 1: the year. There's the IBF champion, not the most well
Speaker 1: known guy in terms of Martazla, but like, what in
Speaker 1: your mind is like if you could pick your fight,
Speaker 1: what would you want to do after this.
Speaker 4: Either Tim Zoo or the winner of Fondora and uh
Speaker 4: Spence if they if they fight, I'm just yeah, that's
Speaker 4: I've been here rumors, but.
Speaker 3: I've always wanted to fight Spence in the Cowboy Stadium.
Speaker 3: And that's and I always say to that one fifty four.
Speaker 3: Late's not gonna have that one forty seven. I already
Speaker 3: know one four. I'm telling you, I'm I'm calling it.
Speaker 3: It's it's gonna happen.
Speaker 1: And both of you guys being you know, from the
Speaker 1: Dallas area that would probably do a big crowd in
Speaker 1: a in a in a you know a lot of
Speaker 1: fans that would turn out for that kind of fight.
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course, exactly be a huge fight.
Speaker 1: All right. So before I let you go, I got
Speaker 1: to ask you with Boichak, you know you are familiar
Speaker 1: with each other.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: You both guys have accomplishments and a great and great
Speaker 1: records and lots of knockouts. Uh, how do you think
Speaker 1: this fight goes? Are we going to see another classic
Speaker 1: Virgil Ortiz knockout? Or what?
Speaker 3: You're gonna see a brutal fight. That's so I'm gonna say,
Speaker 3: I know how he fights, we know how I fight.
Speaker 3: It's it's uh, it's gonna be a brutal fight.
Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you this when I just thought of this,
Speaker 1: when you said it's gonna be a brutal fight, you're
Speaker 1: fighting in the Mandalay Bay. Uh, the arena at the
Speaker 1: Mandalai Bay. That's the location of where I think the
Speaker 1: greatest fight of all time took place. You want to
Speaker 1: talk about a brutal fight. The first fight between Diego
Speaker 1: Caralis and who was in with Castilla was in that
Speaker 1: in that ring. Uh, I don't know if you want
Speaker 1: to deliver that kind of group brutal fight. But when
Speaker 1: you when you hear, when you when you see and
Speaker 1: think about the types of great fights that have been there.
Speaker 1: You know, your promoter, Oscar Delaya had one of his
Speaker 1: greatest fights, one of his biggest wins, against Fernando Vargas
Speaker 1: in that ring. Among other great fights, Marco, Antonio Barrera
Speaker 1: and Eric Morales fought in that ring. You Manny Paco
Speaker 1: fought in that ring. What does that make you feel
Speaker 1: like when you hear the names and the greats that
Speaker 1: fought there.
Speaker 2: You know, history repeats us off. You know it's it's
Speaker 2: gonna be a classic, for for sure. It's gonna be
Speaker 2: one of those fights. You watching one, He's like, damn yeah,
Speaker 2: this one doesn't be the old.
Speaker 1: I'm excited just hearing you talking about that, Virgil, thank
Speaker 1: you so much for your time. I wish he's such
Speaker 1: a good success in that fight, and I look forward
Speaker 1: to to watching it.
Speaker 2: Of course. Thank you about thanks. V