Vergil Ortiz Jr. extended his knockout streak to eighteen with an eighth-round stoppage against Egidijus “Mean Machine” Kavaliauskas in Dallas, Texas on Saturday night.
Saturday night was much of the same and entirely different for Ortiz Jr. On one hand, he scored five knockdowns en route to his eighteenth straight knockout. In contrast, Kavaliauskas did have a bit of success against Ortiz Jr. in the second round and pushed him past the seventh round for the first time in his career. Speaking to Chris Mannix of DAZN after the fight, Ortiz Jr. said that “Mean Machine” provided a good test for him, but he was not as hurt in the earlier portions of the fight as many believed he was. With that said, his goal moving forward is still the same—fight for a world title.
As noted, Ortiz Jr. is looking to fight for a world title in his next bout. He is currently ranked as a top ten welterweight in three of the four major sanctioning bodies. Most notably, he is ranked as the number one challenger for Terence Crawford’s WBO Welterweight Title. Currently, Crawford is working on a deal to fight Shawn Porter later this year. The winner of that fight could fight Ortiz Jr. in early 2022.
VERGIL ORTIZ JR. IS A BEAST. pic.twitter.com/k4yO55sYdY
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) August 15, 2021
