Vergil Ortiz Jr. Vs. Fredrick Lawson Pre-Fight Presser
Vergil Ortiz Jr. and Fredrick Lawson held their pre-fight presser in the run-up to their bout on January 6, 2024.
Ortiz returns to the sport after collapsing in the build-up to his scheduled fight with Eimantas Stanionis. They were meant to square off in a welterweight clash only for Ortiz to faint and be taken to hospital. The boxer struggled to make the welterweight limit, so he moved up. He now faces Lawson above 147 for the first time and enters into the fight undefeated. He has 19 wins, and all of them are by way of knockout.
Ortiz’s previous fight was a victory over Michael McKinson in 2022 via a ninth-round stoppage. Lawson enters the fight with a record of 30-3. He is a dangerous opponent with 22 knockouts on his resume. His previous fight was a unanimous decision victory against Estevan Villalobos, his second win in a row. With that being said, here are the key quotes from the presser.
Ortiz Vs. Lawson
“I just want to give a quick shout out to to everyone who’s believed in me up until this point. First and foremost, my dad, my team, Coach Robert, Coach Hector, and everyone on Golden Boy.
“I put my heart into this sport. But now we’re here. We weigh in tomorrow. If you had any doubts on getting any tickets erase them right now because this fight is happening for sure. And I’m ready. This is honestly the best I’ve ever felt,” Ortiz
“First and foremost I would like to thank God. Thank you Golden Boy Promotions and DAZN who made this possible for us. We had a very good training camp leading up to this event. We’re prepared. We’ve seen a few scripts going around saying how this fight should go. We have a plan that will surprise everyone. We can’t wait for Saturday,” Lawson
De La Hoya And Hopkins
“In 2023, Golden Boy set the bar for the rest of boxing. We put on the consensus top two fights of the year, put on the biggest PPV show by a mile and developed more prospects than anyone in the sport. 2024 is lining up to be even bigger, and it all begins with this card on Saturday.”
“Since January 1, I have been saying to everyone that the future starts today. Starting with Vergil, Barboza and Davies on Saturday night, this is the year that a huge number of Golden Boy fighters are primed to fight for world championships. It’s the most exciting I’ve been for a year of boxing in some time,” De La Hoya
“We’re in competition with ourselves. We did great last year and we’re ready to go this year. As Oscar says, the future starts now,” Bernard Hopkins
The pressure is on Ortiz to perform, given there are question marks over how he will respond to the new weight class. After all, can his power transcend above 147 pounds ? ‘Find all the latest boxing news and MMA breaking updates on boxingnews.com’
