Madrimov Reveals Illness Impacted Performance In Loss To Ortiz Jr., Claims He’ll Be Stronger In Rematch

Israil Madrimov revealed that he was coming off a bad sickness and wasn’t 100% in his 12-round unanimous decision defeat to WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. last Saturday night at The Venue in Riyadh.

Madrimov, 29, says he’ll be “stronger” in a rematch. Vergil Jr. isn’t going to give him a rematch because he wants to challenge WBC and WBO 154-lb champion Sebastian Fundora next. Even if Ortiz Jr. doesn’t get that fight, he’s NOT going to take a risk against a healthy Madrimov and get the stuffing beaten out of him.

It’s the same with Vergil Jr’s fight with Serhii Bohachuk. He’s not giving him a rematch after winning a controversial 12-round majority decision last summer on August 10th. Ortiz Jr. is taking his “wins” any way he can get them. His luck with the judges will eventually run out, but until then, milk it, baby.

Illness Impacts Performance

Madrimov (10-2-1, 7 KOs) faded after dominating Vergil Jr. in the first five rounds and struggled in the last seven rounds. He still appeared to win six rounds and deserved a draw, but the judges gave it to the more popular Ortiz Jr. with scores of 115-113, 115-113, and 117-111. If an ill Madrimov could fight Vergil Jr. to a standstill, what would a healthy version do to him?

A mistake that Israil made in the fight was by moving so much in the first six rounds. That appeared to have taken much of the energy out of him, which played in Ortiz Jr’s favor in the second half of the fight. Madrimov’s corner should have instructed him to stop moving so much early on and focus on his power game. ‘Little GGG’ was the bigger puncher than Ortiz Jr, but he wasted a lot of energy moving.

The punches that Madrimov threw marked up Ortiz Jr’s face around both eyes. You could hear how powerful Madrimov’s punches were when they would land. The impact sound was a lot louder than Vergil’s.

“In December, I was sick. Two weeks ago we went to doctor, doctor says I was sick and wasn’t ready for fight. We don’t want to cancel fight because it was a big card. I wanted to show big fight. This is my job,” said Israil Madrimov to Boxing News about how he wasn’t 100% for his fight against Vergil Ortiz Jr. last Saturday night.

“Maybe in rematch, I’ll come back again stronger. I trained hard [in preparation for Ortiz Jr.], but I didn’t feel good. I didn’t want to cancel the fight. So, I risked it. This fight was more experience. What happened, happened. It’s more practice for the future. I’m waiting for my next fight and will come back stronger.

“It’s my job,” said Madrimov when asked if he wants an easier fight for his next bout because his last two have been tough ones against Vergil Ortiz Jr. and Terence Crawford. “In my pro debut, I fought ten rounds.”