There's going to come a time when boxing fans are going to be telling tales about Vergil Ortiz Jr., recalling when they first saw him fight. They'll regale their listeners of stories about Ortiz's crushing punching power, his willingness to fight anyone and his easy-going nature that belies a savage ferocity in the ring.
Believe in this kid. Get on the bandwagon. Follow him religiously, because he's the real deal and he's going to be one of those fighters you won't be able to forget once you see him in an important fight.
Ortiz on Saturday did his part to set up what on paper has a chance to be the best fight of the year by knocking out Thomas Dulorme with a crushing body shot in the first round of their super welterweight bout at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif. Ortiz is now 21-0 with 21 KOs and will face former world champion Tim Tszyu on Aug. 3 in Los Angeles in what should be a hellacious battle.
It's not fair to compare any fight to Hagler-Hearns, which is one of a handful of the greatest bouts in boxing history, but if there is the potential fight for such a match in boxing in 2024, it will be Ortiz against Tszyu.
Ortiz doesn't have the greatest resume yet. His biggest win was an Aug. 14, 2021, eighth-round stoppage of Egidijus Kavaliauskas, and the 34-year-old Dulorme is long past his best days. He briefly retired before coming back, and hoped to use a win Saturday over Ortiz as a springboard for another few big paydays.
He appeared fit, motivated and in good shape and was giving a decent account of himself until, out of nowhere, it was over.
Dulorme was moving forward, looking to pressure Ortiz and force him into a mistake. Ortiz is preternaturally calm, and simply is reading the situation and looking for the right spot to unload. As Dulorme took a step forward, Ortiz glided a half-step to his left and ripped him with a withering hook that landed just below the elbow.
Dulorme shrieked in pain as he went down as the poker-faced Ortiz walked slowly and dispassionately to his corner.
It was his eighth first-round KO in his 21 wins and set up a massive fight with Tsyzu. Tszyu is an elite and tough fighter himself, who suffered a huge gouge on the top of his head in his March 30 bout in Las Vegas with Sebastian Fundora, but kept fighting and moving forward despite blood gushing down his face for the final 10 rounds.
He'll be a worthy opponent for Ortiz. He's the son of a Hall of Famer and of legitimate world championship timber, but Ortiz has the look of one of those fighters who comes along once every couple of decades or so.
"He's the whole package, and what I love about him is that he's hungry," promoter Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions told DAZN's Chris Mannix after the KO.
De La Hoya couldn't be more right. Ortiz is reminiscent in some ways of one of De La Hoya's biggest rivals, Hall of Famer Felix Trinidad, who defeated De La Hoya in 1999 in a battle of unbeaten welterweight champions. Trinidad had the concussive power in both hands that Ortiz has, but he was hit more than Ortiz is hit and was frequently dropped.
When Ortiz hits his opponents, he has the same kind of effect on them that the late Edwin Valero had on his. Valero won his first 18 bouts by first-round knockout and finished his career in 2010 with a 27-0 record and 27 KOs. He died in prison while he was just 28. Valero was wild and out of control in the ring (and in his personal life), but when he touched an opponent, they did a funny dance.
That is the only thing he has in common with Ortiz, who is as clean cut outside the ring as an altar boy.
He's also as clean as an altar boy in the ring. He sets up his shots, has terrific balance and doesn't create opportunities for his opponent by carelessly winging blows. Everything he does is done with a purpose.
And like everything he does, the finish on Saturday was set up meticulously.
"It was a very calculated shot," Ortiz said. "He was coming with everything. I could feel it behind his jab. But you know, I'm more than just power. People think I'm just power and I'm a truck, [but] this truck is thinking over here."
He is the full package, and gives Golden Boy a bookend star to go along with Ryan Garcia, who scored his biggest win a week earlier when he dropped Devin Haney three times and won a majority decision.
There are plenty of big fights in Ortiz's future, and perhaps he'll meet his match one day. But he has the look of a generational fighter about to blossom in front of the world. The fight with Tszyu is a can't miss one, and it's worth seeing live if there's any way possible you can make it. It figures to be that good.
Time will tell, of course. It always does.
There's a reason, though, that De La Hoya had such a massive grin on his face after Ortiz left the ring on Saturday.