In what’s become a distressingly predictable move, Vergil Ortiz Jr is out of Saturday’s WBA “world” title fight against Eimantas Stanionis. Stanionis’ manager, Shelly Finkel, claims Ortiz fainted and had to be hospitalized.
Floyd Schofield’s fight with Haskell Rhodes will serve as the new main event. Per Golden Boy’s Twitter:
Nothing is more important than the safety of our fighters, and we of course support Vergil’s decision 100 percent. This unfortunate event does however open the door for one of Golden Boy’s top prospects, Floyd Schofield, to accelerate his profile by headlining in his home state of Texas. We will, as always, put on a high-action card from top to bottom on July 8 and look forward to showcasing all of our fighters both in San Antonio and on DAZN.
Ortiz (19-0, 19 KO) has fought just once since August 2021 while being responsible for three of four fight cancellations. Rhabdomyolysis bounced him from both a March 2022 meeting with Michael McKinson and an April 29th meeting with Stanionis (14-0, 9 KO), the latter of which initially got pushed back a month due to Stanionis’ appendicitis.
Something is clearly not right with Ortiz’s health, whether it’s the rhabdo, other lingering effects of COVID, or an inability to safely make 147 pounds. At this point, the WBA should just order the winner of Spence vs Crawford to fight Stanionis, who already stepped aside twice to let Spence unify with Yordenis Ugas and Crawford.