A new date has been finalized for the overdue clash between Vergil Ortiz, Jr. and Eimantas Stanionis.
Ortiz and Stanionis will now square off on July 8 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas, Golden Boy Promotions announced Monday. The 12-round bout will stream live on DAZN.
The Ortiz-Stanionis fight is a compelling clash of boxer-punchers who are both rated in the top 10 by The Ring at 147 pounds. Ortiz and Stanionis are rated, respectively, at No. 5 and 6.
Ortiz (19-0, 19 knockouts), who resides in the Dallas suburb of Grand Prairie, Texas, last fought on August 8, breaking down Michael McKinson before the fight was stopped in round 9 in a clash of unbeaten welterweights.
The 25-year-old backed out of the clash against Stanionis in late March, which was scheduled to take place on April 29, after suffering a rhabdomyolysis flare-up due to long COVID. In a recent interview with ESPN’s Mike Coppinger, Ortiz stated he contracted COVID three times, which likely caused rhabdomyolysis. Ortiz was originally scheduled to face McKinson on March 19 of last year, but withdrew from that fight due to after being hospitalized.
Ortiz recently spent time in Fresno, California, where he was diagnosed with long COVID and treated by Dr. Juan Bautista.
Stanionis (14-0, 9 KOs), who is originally from Lithuania and now resides in Los Angeles, has not fought since defeating Radzhab Butaev by split-decision on April 16 of last year. With the win, Stanionis won a secondary world title belt.
The 28-year-old was mandated by the WBA to defend against Ortiz after he was not able to finalize a voluntary defense and after the sanctioning body approved Ortiz’s petition to be named as the mandatory challenger.
The clash between Ortiz and Staninois was originally scheduled for March 18, but was postponed after Stanionis had to withdraw from the fight after he was hospitalized and forced to have appendectomy surgery.
Golden Boy won the purse bid for the Ortiz-Stanionis fight in December, submitting a bid of $2,300,000, outbidding TGB Promotions’ offer of $2,100,010.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at [email protected]
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