The carousel of contenders who emerged for Vergil Ortiz Jnr’s next fight featured plenty of top fighters far and wide, but eventually, it was Israil Madrimov who was the winner and got the chance to face the knockout artist on February 22 in Saudi Arabia.
The junior middleweight star Ortiz (22-0, 21 KOs) was originally supposed to face Jaron Ennis, but that fight fell apart at the 11th hour over the weekend. One of the top replacements who surfaced from the pack was Xander Zayas (20-0, 12 KOs), who said he accepted the fight in one minute when given an hour to mull the offer.
But on Monday, it was announced that Madrimov, who still has to fight Serhii Bohachuk on December 21, was awarded the opportunity to fight Ortiz.
“I accepted the fight but never heard back. Did you just Bootsed me? We were all in,” Zayas wrote on social media.
“Yeah I ‘ducked’ you to fight Madrimov,” Ortiz Jnr fired back. “Your time will come, don’t you worry. We got bigger fish to fry over here.”
Vergil Ortiz Snr, who’s also his son’s head coach, took to social media to clear the air as well: “Xander, you seem like a good guy, don’t act like some of these people on here. The truth is they called and asked if Vergil would fight you – it was an easy yes. They also called four other guys. You were the least accomplished, so by their standards, you were not qualified. Ask Top Rank. Good luck champ.”
Zayas wrote: “I respect the business decision. It’s understandable and I’m sure the fight will take place in the future. Good luck in February.”
Ortiz last fought in August and survived two knockdowns to score a majority decision against Bohachuk.
Zayas beat Damian Sosa in September in a 10-round unanimous decision.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter whose work has appeared on ESPN, Fox Sports, USA Today, The Guardian, Newsweek, Men’s Health, NFL.com, Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Ring Magazine and more. He has been writing for BoxingScene since 2018. Manouk is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.