Jamaine Ortíz: “I’m Here to Beat Lomachenko”

Knowing how to fight under pressure is a virtue that enhances all other qualities of a boxer. And undefeated Jamaine Ortíz (16-0-1, 8 KOs) has shown in his short professional career that, despite adverse conditions, he has the heart of a champion in battles where his opponent has surpassed him in both experience and record.

On May 21st, Ortiz surprised a lot of people when he convincingly defeated his countryman and former 130-pound world champion Jamel Herring (23-4, 11 KOs) in Las Vegas. Two judges scored the fight 97-93 and the other 96-94, awarding Ortiz the US Boxing Federation and NABF vacant belts at 135 pounds. Ortiz said that he remained calm during the fight, as he didn’t want to rush anything. He focused on winning the rounds one at a time.

Now Ortíz, the son of a Puerto Rican father and a Dominican mother, has before him a big challenge in facing former multiple champion Vasily Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs). The fight is scheduled for Saturday, October 29^th at the Hulu Theater in the legendary Madison Square Garden.

The odds favor the Ukrainian southpaw Lomachenko, as much as 10-1. But those odds may be deceptive, as Ortiz, who started his professional career in 2016, has climbed substantially in the rankings, He is currently ranked 8^th by the WBC and 12^th by the WBO.

Ortiz’s optimism in the face of the difficult match-up that lies ahead is evident: “Lomachenko is a great fighter, but I’m here to win.  Once I win this fight, I’m targeting a world title opportunity. This is a dream come true.”

However, few boxing experts and fans believe that Ortíz can come out with his arm raised against Lomachenko who is ranked among the best pound for pound fighters and has won titles in the featherweight, super featherweight and lightweight divisions.

In addition, Loma’s career includes the two Olympic medals in Beijing-2008 and London-2012, as well as 396 victories and only one setback during the amateur stage. His standings in the 135-pound division confirm his enormous talent, as he is ranked 1^st in the WBC and WBO, 3^rd in the WBA and 4^th in the IBF.

Ortíz traversed the amateur ranks with 100 wins and 14 losses. He has won three peripheral titles in less than six years, including the WBC Youth World Cup in February 2019, by defeating Ricardo Quiroz (11-1-0, 6 KOs). That same year, Ortíz won the Inter-Continental Junior title after defeating, by unanimous decision, Frenchman Romain Couture.

The 34-year-old Lomachenko, in his most recent bout, was victorious over Richard Commey (30-4-1, 7 KOs). The fight took place in December of last year in Madison Square Garden, where the vacant WBO Intercontinental belt was at stake. Six months earlier, on June 26^th, Loma anesthetized Japanese Masayoshi Nakatani in the ninth round (he knocked him down in the fifth) in Las Vegas. Prior to those two wins, in October of 2020, Teófimo López (17-1-0, 13 KOs) beat Lomachenko by unanimous decision in a unification title fight at the MGM Grand. López had the WBA and IBF super champion belts and took Lomachenko’s WBO belt.

It was later learned that in that fight, Lomachenko had a torn rotator cuff in his shoulder, for which he had to undergo surgery a short time later. That was prior to his victories over Nakatani and Commey.

Article submitted by Jorge Juan Alvarez in Spanish.

Please note any adjustments made were for clarification purposes and any errors in translation were unintentional.

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