Report- Vergil Ortiz Back In March Against Former Champ Hooker

Up and coming, unbeaten Welterweight Vergil Ortiz appears on the verge of getting his toughest fight to date coming in March. That’s when he will reportedly battle former 140 lb. WBO World Champ Maurice Hooker.

This is according to a report late Monday night from Mike Coppinger of The Athletic,

Sources: Vergil Ortiz Jr., and Maurice Hooker have agreed to fight March 27 on DAZN. Tremendous action bout and a real test for Ortiz, who has 16 KOs in 16 fights. Hooker’s first bout as a full-fledged welterweight after a title run at 140https://t.co/NFCnq09vwm

— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) January 12, 2021

The 22 year old Texan Ortiz has created buzz over the course of the last couple of years. This as he has begun his professional career with 16 consecutive knockouts. He was last in action in July and as we wrote then, he demolished veteran Sammy Vargas. Ortiz was headlining the first show back, post Covid 19 shutdown of the sport for three months, for Golden Boy Promotions and DAZN streaming.

Ortiz was impressive, knocking down Vargas twice and stopping him in the seventh round to advance himself into the World title picture.

As for Hooker (27-1-3 18 KOs), he was last in the ring in July of 2019. That’s when he fought José Ramírez in a Unification bout for two of the 140 lb. titles in Dallas. The pair served up a back-and-forth shootout that Ramirez won via stoppage in the sixth round of a breathless contest.

That handed Hooker his first pro loss costing him his WBO belt.

Hooker was to have fought former WBA Jr. Lightweight champ, Regis Prograis, in an elimination bout for title contention, last April. However, that fight was scuttled by the Coronavirus pandemic. And, Hooker struggled to be able to make weight at 140 lb. any longer.

Prograis refused to fight Hooker later in the Summer, etc. at a “catch weight” significantly above 140 lb. So, Hooker has remained idle, into 2021.

Back to Ortiz, he is one of the key fighters for Oscar De La Hoya’s stable and their hope is that he could get him a title shot later in 2021. However, that will prove to be problematic, as Errol Spence holds the IBF and WBC belts and is under agreement with Premier Boxing Champions.

WBA World champ, Manny Pacquiao has not been active since defeating Keith Thurman by 12 round decision in January of 2019. And, WBO champ Terence Crawford is in a protracted dispute with Top Rank Boxing and Bob Arum for not getting a unification fight with Spence or Pacquiao.