By: Sean Crose
Eighteen fights. Eighteen wins. Eighteen times knockout.
Virgil Ortiz’s record speaks volumes so far in his career. The undefeated 24-year-old Texan has established himself as a tough power in the welterweight division. He will face another undefeated boxer this Saturday night, when he takes on England’s Mike McKinson 22-0 in a scheduled 12th round match at Dickies’ Arena in Fort Worth. Ortiz not only fought against his own Texans, he also faced a man he was generally expected to easily dominate. Such things may prove to be a tall order, but Ortiz has every reason in the world to be confident.
After all, this boxer’s record is remarkable in more ways than one. Ortiz is not only stopping all of his opponents at a distance, but he’s also working his way past notable fighters from the end of the year. Mauricio Herrera, Maurice Hooker, Brad Solomon, Egidijus Kavaliauskas – these may not be the names that attract the stars, but they are nonetheless names of notable boxers. And Ortiz basically wiped them all out. Everyone has every right to expect Ortiz to win on Saturday. McKinson, of course, has plans of his own.
While he may not currently possess the star power – or rising star power – of Ortliz, the 28-year-old patiently awaits his chance to arrive at Ortiz for a while. A match in March between the two was postponed and now the Englishman is certainly eager to take part in his second professional game in the US. McKinon’s last ring fight was a decisive win over Alex Martin in Los Angeles in March. Martin is not Ortiz, but at least McKinon must earn himself a victory on American soil. What’s interesting about this weekend’s bout is that McKinon is a boxer as much as Ortiz is a slugger… as McKinon only scored 2 knockouts in all his 22 fights.
27-2-3 Maurice Hooker will also be on the seventh card. He will face Blair Cobbs 15-1-1 in a scheduled 10th round match in the welterweight division. The WBA and WBC women’s 21-1 flyweight champion, Marlen Esparza, will also be in the ring. Her opponent will be 19-1-1 Eva Guzman. Their match is scheduled for 10 two-minute halves. This weekend’s Ortiz-McKinon Card will begin airing at 9 p.m. ET on Saturday on the DAZN streaming service.
