It’s hard to know exactly when a prospect becomes a contender, but Vergil Ortiz Jr. might have taken that step with a definitive stoppage Friday night that left him with a perfect record in 2019 and limitless possibilities in the New Year.
Ortiz (15-0, 15 KOs) scored a fifth-round TKO of Brad Solomon at Fantasy Springs in Indio Calif. Solomon (28-2, 9 KOs) used a mix of tactics in an apparent attempt at forcing the young Ortiz into doing something he can’t.
But Ortiz, a 21-year-old welterweight from Dallas, continued to show that there’s nothing he can’t do.
Solomon, of Douglasville, Georgia, stayed away in the opening moments. Then he moved forward, throwing punches. But it was all to no avail against the multi-skilled Ortiz, a Golden Boy-promoted fighter who knocked down Solomon in the fourth round with a jab and finished him with two knockdowns in the fifth.
“He was pretty difficult to figure out,’’ Ortiz told DAZN. “He kept me at bay and really made me use my brain. I had to figure out the range. I just had to use my smarts.’’
The stoppage was Ortiz’s fourth in 2019. It was also his third straight of a fighter who had never been stopped before. He finished Mauricio Herrera in three rounds on May 5. He stopped Antonio Orozco in six on Aug 10.
Stopping Ortiz in 2020 might be hard to do.