This fight is set to happen sometime in August. I expect Vergil to ice Kavaliauskas within 6. The winner becomes Crawford's mandatory. And given that it's looking possible that Crawford might be leaving TR, maybe this sets up a Crawford-Ortiz matchup for early next year.
Oh shit, I accidentally said Green Machine instead of Mean Machine. Green Machine was ex-champ Danny Green.
Getting back to this, I think Crawford-Ortiz might be a more compelling matchup than Crawford-Taylor. I can't see how Josh beats Bud, unless Father Time catches up. Crawford is better than Taylor at every facet of boxing. With Vergil, given his firepower and skill, he becomes the biggest threat Crawford's ever faced.
Proper Fight... Mean Machine Had Just Enough THOUGHT to His Approach to TROUBLE Bud Crawford Early...He LEGIT Dropped Bud to a Knee, Though it Only Pissed Bud Off and Hastened Mean Machine's Demise... Mean Machine's SCRAPPY, Which Will Make for a HIGH CONTACT Bout w/Vergil Ortiz...Verg Stops Mean Machine Mid to Late, But He's an Even TOUGHER Out than Reese Hooker Was, Who Actually TOOK a Round or 2... REED
Good test for Vergil Ortiz Jr. Can't wait to see how he handles him, if he makes shorter work than Crawford. Crawford NEEDS to fight Ortiz or Ennis.
Just as i say that, he blasted mean machine. Still, i don't think he beats the top guys at 147, nor would i pick him against boots. Has a lot of power and speed, but seems to lack a bit of skills
REED Thinks the Bout was More About How Good Kavaliauskas IS, Than How Good Vergil Ortiz ISN'T... It's Not Like Bud Crawford WALKED THRU Mean Machine Either...He Got a BAD Taste of the Same Sneaky Right Hands Verg Had to Adjust To... And Verg is Like a DECADE Younger Than Bud... Ortiz ISN'T Ready for Crawford in REED's Opinion, But if Verg is INSISTING Upon It and No Other Meaningful Fights Materialize for Either, WHYthefuckNOT???... Ortiz Doesn't Seem Terribly Interested in PROTECTING His "O"... REED
Ortiz - Kavaliauskas 10 : 9 9 : 10 10 : 8 10 : 9* (39/36) 10 : 9 9 : 10 10 : 9* (68/64) Ortiz KO8 This is a good learning fight. We learn about Ortiz, and Ortiz learns exactly what he needs to work on. We learnt exactly what Ortiz is made of here, and I, for one, am very impressed. He showed he could take a collosal shot off a massive puncher and he just gritted it out, bit down on his gumshield and had it out with him. Fighter through and through, and a smart one at that. I thought he showed a very good killer instinct as well, especially in the seventh and obviously, the eighth. As for his chin, how many welterweights today hit harder than Kavaliauskas? Which brings me onto something I'm confused about. Why are people saying Kavaliauskas 'exposed' Ortiz? I don't see how this fight could be anything but a positive. We know how good Kavaliauskas is. He seperated himself from a very good fighter in David Avanesyan; was badly robbed vs Robinson; and dropped Crawford and gave him the hardest fight of his career. Ortiz showed his talent here, he showed his heart and chin, and he showed good fundamentals, but he does need to work on quite a bit. I'd start with his jab. It's not varied enough. It comes from the same angle; at the same pace; the same way, every single time. It's a good, heavy jab, but it's too predictable. Kavaliauskas was relying on countering that jab to set up everything. He seems to like working from behind an active high-guard, reinforcing things with parries and changing hand slots often enough to keep him from being open to the body. Ortiz isn't consistent enough at doing it, especially when coming forward. Combine this with a predictable jab, and an aggressive style, and you have somebody who's gonna be quite easy to counter. I'd refer him to one of three fighters to improve on this style: Old Foreman, Zarate and Chavez. The variety Foreman's jab had in his second career and the slot it came from, would be perfect for Ortiz to perfect. He'd pick up setting up power shots from a high-guard, pick up how to effectively stiff arm and set up the uppercut. Old Foreman could flick his jab out to set up the back hand, fire it from the hip (or 'up' it) against crouching fighters, and use it as the Liston-like sledgehammer he had when he was younger. If Ortiz could jab like this, he'd be extremely formidable, and unlike Foreman, he has the athleticsm to massively improve the effectiveness of these techniques. Zarate's style of defence is perfect for the tall fighter. Relying on range manipulation, parrying and efficiency, he really worked on turning with shots subtly, and parrying them. His fight with Pintor is a perfect example of how good he was defensively. It's how to do what Ortiz wants to do, and how to do it right. In his early 130 days, Chavez was a brutish, highly skilled, and tall pressure fighter. When not hampered by weight making, he was as effective there as he was as he moved up IMO. Setting up the cross, ring-cutting, incredible defence and feints, as well as just all-round perfect form, there's definitely gonna be something Ortiz could pick up.
Ortiz isn't ready for Crawford yet, nor Boots or Spence. Porter, Thurman and Ugas should be the level he steps up to next. Maybe even go against DSG first.
I've just watched Boots vs Fernandez, and Boots is every bit as talented as Ortiz but a level above him in terms of skill. Ennis is really gonna be something special. He isn't quite as far along in terms of his career development as Ortiz is, but it only takes one fight vs a fighter the same sort of caliber of Kavaliauskas and he's there. I hope he gets Danny Garcia or somebody on that level next.
Gamboa gave Crawford the hardest fight of his career, not Mean Machine. But the rest of that post is solid. Ortiz is very reminiscent of Cotto. Less skill and fluidity than Cotto, but bigger firepower.
Aint no way in living Hell Danny is gonna get in there with Boots. Danny wants a Jermell Charlo payday at 154, then he'll hang em up.
I thought Kavaliauskas gave Crawford a harder fight, but I did actually type "or at least since Gamboa", but then deleted it because I settled on Kava giving him the harder fight. Yeah, I didn't think Garcia-Ennis was likely, DSG would need millions to get in there. I just wanna see Ennis have a common opponents with a top fighter, if we can't actually get him in with one. Yeah, I've seen quite a few people saying Ortiz reminds them of Cotto. I think it's an okay comparison, but Ortiz is a lot taller than Cotto which changes quite a few dynamics.
We'll see how the comparison pans out. I'm not surprised he fought back well though. He didn't give me bitch vibes. Seems like a kid that loves to fight.
Ortiz Made the Cotto Comparison HIMSELF Initially, Prior to Facing Orozco...Said Cotto was One of the Fighters His Ol' Man Patterned Him After... It's a SURFACE Level Comparison in REED's Opinion, But It's THERE... REED
No one knowledgeable says Ortiz got exposed last night. Sure he got hurt but this is part of the game and Mean Machine is a decent puncher. I do think you are severely overrating Kavaliaskaus though. He's no more than a gatekeeper imo