Fort Worth, TX March 20th, 2021- Saturday night at the new Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas one of boxing’s brightest stars Vergil Ortiz Jr. (17-0, 17 KOs) rose to the occasion in front of an energetic hometown crowd as he defeated the former WBO 140-pound titleholder and fellow Texas native Maurice Hooker (27-2-3, 18 KOs).
The Grand Prairie native Ortiz was a heavy beating favorite (-2000) not only to defeat Hooker but to stop his toughest opponent on paper before the final bell as well. Hooker who’d only fought one round in nearly two years and moved up in weight to take on Ortiz felt the sting early. Ortiz quickly cut off the ring on “Mighty Mo” who came into the ring with an 80-inch reach.
In the early rounds Ortiz landed the cleaner heavier shots and tight combinations on Hooker who worked in spurts. By the middle rounds Hooker would find his distance and swing the momentum in his direction landing good shots snapping back the head of Ortiz as the fans in the arena were treated to a fire-fight. Then in the 6th Ortiz caught Hooker with a huge three punch combination that started with a devastating left uppercut sending him to the canvas. Hooker would beat the count, but was clearly hurting from the power punches Ortiz landed.
To start the 7th Ortiz caught Hooker with a hard body shot as Hooker landed a punch of his own, Hooker would take a knee and the fight would be waived off as Hooker could no longer continue. After the fight Ortiz stated “I felt like I could beat him, he didn’t have to take the fight and I give him props. I felt like I did pretty good overall and I did ok.” Ortiz went on to say “Hooker was durable, could take a punch, and was smart but I neutralized it. This win gives me confidence to be ready for a title shot. Crawford is possibly the number 2 ranked pound for pound fighter in the world, and I don’t care if I’m ready for the fight that’s the fight I want.”
THE FUTURE HAS ARRIVED. ✨ pic.twitter.com/tKa7ia0ZBY
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) March 21, 2021
“Vergil is young and up-and-coming. But there are levels to this. He’s good. But he’s not ready for Terence Crawford. To be ready, he needs to just keep building himself up. He will be a world champ someday.” Hooker said of Ortiz after the fight.
Estrada Wins WBA Minimum Weight Title
In the Co-Main event and making her US debut the WBA Minimum-Weight champion, Mexico City’s Anabel Ortiz (31-4, 4 KOs) took on undefeated East Los Angeles native Seniesa “Superbad” Estrada (20-0, 8 KOs). Ortiz, the longest reigning boxing champion who last lost in 2012 and has primarily fought Mexico, has had two separate title reigns in her career including her current run that had dated back to 2013.
The 34-year-old Ortiz came into Saturday night on a 21-fight win streak, the only question leading into the fight was if Ortiz would continue her reign or would a new queen be crowned? That question would be answered as from the opening bell the hungry Estrada used her speed and precise punching to tag Ortiz with brutal combinations and vicious power shots. Estrada came out in the second round on full throttle exchanging blows with Ortiz before Estrada caught Ortiz with a huge overhand right dropping the champ. Ortiz would beat the count and survive the round.
Estrada would continue to dominate the veteran Ortiz in the middle rounds landing winging rights and although Ortiz would catch Estrada with some counters by the end of the 5th the dominance of Estrada would begin to show on the face of Ortiz. Estrada continued to use good ring generalship and foot work in the championship rounds as her output minimized while her punch accuracy rose in this one sided affair.
Despite the fact Ortiz fought valiantly it was the near perfect performance of Estrada that gave her the huge unanimous decision victory as the judges returned with the scores of 100-89 x2 and 99-90 all in favor of the fighting pride of East Los Angeles, “And New” Champion Seniesa “Superbad” Estrada. After the fight Estrada stated “I followed my game plan just the way we planned. Ortiz was the reigning champion for seven years and defended her title twelve times so I knew she was durable, she came to fight and in great condition I knew she’d be tough.” Estrada went on to say I want to unify at 105, 108 and then 112-lbs. I want Yesenia Gomes, Yesica Bopp or any other world champion.”
Other Results:
Cruiserweights: Tristan Kalkreuth (8-0, 6 KOs) vs Dustin Long (4-2-2, 4 KOs) Result: Kalkreuth comes away with a 1st round knockout
Super Bantamweights: Hector Valdez (14-0, 8 KOs) vs Alberto Torres (11-3-3, 4 KOs) Result: Valdez wins by UD
Super Lightweights: George Rincon (11-0, 7 KOs) vs Luis Solis (25-12-4, 21 KOs) Result: Rincon remains undefeated with a unanimous decision victory over Solis
Super Lightweights: Marcelino Lopez (37-2-1, 22 KOs) vs Jairo Lopez (27-12, 18 KOs) Result: Marcalino Lopez drops J. Lopez four times in the bout and comes away with4th round knockout victory.
