Junior welterweight Jamaine Ortiz is determined to make fans forget his February bout against Teofimo Lopez, which, despite a divisive consensus, left many indifferent to him.
“They’re gonna forget about the last performance, that’s what I’m going to tell you,” Ortiz told BoxingScene ahead of his clash with Cristian Ruben Mino on Friday at the Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida, on a Boxlab Promotions card broadcast on DAZN.
At the weigh-in, Ortiz, 17-2 (8 KOs), came in at 140lbs on the dot, whereas, Mino, 24-10-2 (17 KOs) was just a bit under the junior welterweight limit at 139.8lbs. Ortiz from Worcester, Massachusetts, has made significant changes to his training, as he has a new head trainer.
“I started training with [Cuban trainer] Lester Diaz more full-time in April,” Ortiz said. “We were working before that for a while. I met him while I was living part-time in Dubai, and we made a good connection over there. We worked hard and linked up again in the US”
Ortiz’s close loss to Lopez has kept him inactive since February, with BoxRec fan scores narrowly giving Lopez the edge at 113.77 to 113.46 from 179 fans who scored the bout. Reflecting on the unanimous decision loss that some believe he deserved to win, Ortiz said, “My motivation is becoming a world champion. I’m chasing that, and it’s going to stay like that till I become [a champion].”
Ortiz’s upcoming opponent, 27-year-old Mino, from Buenos Aires, Argentina, presents an opportunity for Ortiz to improve his WBA ranking. “This fight hopefully puts me back in title contention,” Ortiz said. “I’m fighting for the WBA Continental title, and right now, the champion in that division is “Rayo” [Jose Valenzuela], so that’s what I’m going after.”
Ortiz is co-promoted by Boxlab Promotions along with CES Boxing.
Full weigh-in results below:
Junior welterweight – 10 rounds
Jamaine Ortiz (140.0lbs) vs. Christian Mino (139.8lbs)
Junior lightweight – eight rounds
Kaipo Gallegos (129.4lbs) vs. Iron Alvarez (130.0lbs)
Lightweight – five rounds
Alexander Rios Vega (135.2lbs) vs. Felix Santana Jr (135.0lbs)
Junior featherweight – eight rounds
Chavez Barrientes (121.8lbs) vs. Noah Contreras (121.4lbs)
Junior welterweight – six rounds
Tayre Jones (142.2lbs) vs. Willmank Brito (141.6lbs)
Featherweight – eight rounds
John Laryea (126.0lbs) vs. Alejandro Majia (126.2lbs)
Bantamweight – six rounds
Marcus Harris (118.6lbs) vs. Jesus Martinez (119.4lbs)
Super middleweight – four rounds
Miguel Diaz (167.4lbs) vs. Caleb Hall (167.8lbs)
Lightweight – six rounds
Tristan Gallichan (137.2lbs) vs. Malik Lewis (136.6lbs)
Junior welterweight – four rounds
Danilo Diez (139.6lbs) vs. Adam Hach (134.4lbs)
Junior featherweight – four rounds
Zayveon Mitchell (121.6lbs) vs. Jose Fernandez (120.0lbs)