Repping Texas- Vergil Ortiz Jr., Hector Tanajara and Joshua Franco

Those Texas boys are at it again.

Welterweight contender Vergil Ortiz Jr. led a media workout for his upcoming clash with Brad Solomon on Friday, Dec. 13, at Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio. He was joined by fellow Longhorns Joshua Franco and Hector Tanajara.

All three Texans live and train in the hills of Riverside, California. The San Antonio faction Franco and Tanajara are darn near being Californians after five years spent at the Robert Garcia Boxing Academy. Dallas native Ortiz Jr. only has two years in Riverside but a couple in Indio too.

Southern California works for them.

“I know all the places to go to now,” said Tanajara at the RGBA gym in Riverside on Tuesday. “We have our favorite places to go for Mexican food.”

Ortiz can’t afford to talk about food; he has an important date coming soon and maintaining weight remains a priority. He’s also banging on the doors of the upper tier in the welterweight rankings. It’s just a matter of time.

The compound where the fighters live and train recently expanded and a virtual army of prizefighters are available to glove up at any time. Because of the pure numbers they seldom need to venture outside for sparring.

“Sometimes we get fighters from other places to come here,” said Ortiz, 21. “But we don’t go outside too many times.”

Knockouts seem to happen whenever Ortiz touches his foes but it’s not a goal. The slender power-punching welterweight prefers the mental warfare between prizefighters – deciphering an opponent’s style appeals to him like a game of speed chess.

“You could say I like adapting and overcoming other fighter’s styles,” said Ortiz who has trained under Robert Garcia for nearly two years now. “I’m always looking for clues.”

Vergil Ortiz Sr. the father, also lives in Riverside and both like to work on picking apart an opponent’s technique and style. It keeps them up hours after they leave the boxing compound.

“Most people think he wants to blow them out but that’s not the case,” said Ortiz Sr. “He’s a boxer first. He can box, it’s just that he’s knocked them out before he can show people what he can really do.”

Ortiz Jr. (14-0, 14 KOs) will be facing the elusive style of Solomon (28-1, 9 KOs) at Fantasy Springs next week. The Golden Boy Promotions card will be shown by DAZN.

Solomon has not lost in three years and that was by split decision. The nearly six-foot welterweight fights out of Georgia and has beaten some talented contenders like Ray Robinson, Adrian Granados and Freddy Hernandez.

Fighting different boxing approaches like Solomon’s appeals to Ortiz.

“I like figuring out how to beat different styles. It’s fun,” said Ortiz who has six first round knockouts and has never fought past the sixth round. “I’ve learned a lot about pacing and strategy since I’ve been here.”

Ortiz can’t wait to enter the bigger stage, but business first next week. The father Ortiz Sr. foresees his son in a mega fight especially in his adopted home Southern California.

“I’d love to see Vergil fight in Los Angeles where the big boxing fans are,” said Ortiz Sr. “Los Angeles has the best boxing fans.”

San Antonio

Joshua Franco and Hector Tanajara both return home on Jan. 11, when they are scheduled to fight on the undercard of the Jaime Munguia middleweight clash with Gary O’Sullivan at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

It’s an exciting homecoming for the duo.

Tanajara has never fought professionally in his hometown. The closest he fought to San Antonio was two years ago when he fought in Grand Prairie, Texas, a town located about 300 miles away.

Hector Tanajara

“It’s giving me a lot of motivation to be fighting in San Antonio,” said Tanajara, 22, whose last fight was a defense of the WBC U.S. lightweight title against Ezekiel Aviles that resulted in a win by unanimous decision. “I want to put on a good show.”

The other San Antonio fighter, Josh Franco, has engaged in three of the toughest and most exciting battles of the year. All three wars saw the fighter known as “El Profesor” trade bombs with Colombia’s Oscar Negrete. Franco won once and the other two ended in draws. Now it’s time to decipher the rest of the fight world.

“We’re going to have a lot of friends and family coming to the Alamodome,” said Franco, 24, who has spent nearly five years in Southern California and now gets an opportunity to fight in front of the hometown crowd. “It’s going to be good.”

Joshua Franco

Neither Tanajara nor Franco has an opponent at this time, but both are scheduled to fight.

“We’re comfortable here in Riverside, but I’m not nervous about fighting in San Antonio,” said Franco. “It’s going to be fun.”

Those Texas boys are at it again.

Photos by Al Applerose

Check out more boxing news on video at The Boxing Channel  

To comment on this story in The Fight Forum CLICK HERE