Boxing Challenge: Ortiz vanquishes Vargas.

Photo Credit: Golden Boy Promotions

Sometimes in boxing, being tough isn't enough.
If it were, Samuel Vargas would be among the best in the welterweight division, but alas that isn't the case and toughness alone at the elite level will only earn a fighter an evening filled with punishment.

Vargas took seven rounds of such punishment from the best young welterweight in the world as Vergil Ortiz beat Vargas to the head, the body, and about every legal spot you can imagine before referee Jack Reiss waved an honorable surrender for Vargas at the end of the seventh round without even giving him a chance to try to talk anyone into an opportunity to fight on.

Ortiz never seemed to miss with his jab and no matter the fist that he threw, that fist would find a home in the waiting Vargas.
Ortiz almost ended the fight in the fourth round when he hurt Vargas with a barrage of bombs that would have concluded the proceedings against a welterweight with less courage and chin, but Vargas battled on before taking a fearful pounding in the seventh.

Vargas seemed to be a small step down from the most serviceable veterans that Ortiz had defeated in his previous three fights (Mauricio Herrera, Antonio Orozco, and Brad Solomon) that each brought a style that Ortiz could learn something against.
Vargas brought only courage and an excellent chin that never gave way against Ortiz, who was unable to knock Vargas down despite adding his 16th win via early ending in as many wins.

Ortiz is headed for bigger things and while I cannot rank him in the top seven yet, he is solidly ahead of other prospects such as Jaron "Boots" Ennis, Jamal James, and Alexis Rocha.
I'd like to see Ortiz against one more solid veteran (one that is above Samuel Vargas's level) before the end of the year and then hopefully he'll get his shot at a big name in 2021.
I think there is a very good chance that in a few years, boxing fans could be hungering for a Vergil Ortiz-Boots Ennis fight as they currently are for an Errol Spence-Terence Crawford faceoff.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored two points to move the total to 73-67.