Vergil Ortiz Jr. hospitalized, fight against McKinson on Saturday called off
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Welterweight contender Vergil Ortiz Jr. is hospitalized with rhabdomyolysis and withdrew on Tuesday from his fight with Michael McKinson scheduled for Saturday night at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, Golden Boy Promotions announced.
The 12-round bout was due to headline Golden Boy’s card on DAZN.
Golden Boy said in its announcement that after Ortiz was diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis he was “recovering well in hospital and is expected to make a full recovery.”
Rhabdomyolysis, commonly known as rhabdo), is serious and occurs when damaged muscle tissue releases its proteins and electrolytes into the blood. It can damage the heart and kidneys and in the most severe cases cause death.
“We wish Vergil a very quick and speedy recovery,” Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya said. “As fighters, our first instinct is to fight whatever we have and tough it out. It takes a lot of courage to admit that something is wrong and get the care that you need. We are confident that we will be seeing Vergil in the ring again very soon.”
Golden Boy and DAZN have not made a decision on whether the card will go on as planned, but according to a source, Golden Boy is seeking an opponent to face McKinson on short notice.
McKinson (21-0, 2 KOs), 27, a southpaw from England, has been in Los Angeles for about 10 days and is said to close to weight and hoping to fight, although it remains to be seen if an acceptable opponent can be found on such short notice.
If the card goes on without McKinson, the 10-round welterweight co-feature between Alexis Rocha (18-1, 12 KOs), 24, of Santa Ana, California, and fellow southpaw Blair “The Flair” Cobbs (15-0-1, 10 KOs), 32, of Las Vegas, would be elevated to the main event position.
Ortiz (18-0, 18 KOs), 23, of Grand Prairie, Texas, is one of the rising stars in boxing. He has scored a string of impressive knockouts and is coming off his two biggest wins in a row, an eighth-round stoppage of former world title challenger “Mean Machine” Egidijus Kavaliauskas in August and a seventh-round knockout of former junior welterweight world titlist Maurice Hooker last March.
Photo: Lina Baker/Golden Boy
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I obviously wish Vergil all the best and hope he returns back to full health as soon as possible.
I'd be very interested to find out the root cause of how Ortiz Jr ended up with rhabdomyolysis.
There are various innocent causes but it must be said that there are also causes involving a few types of drugs including cocaine, amphetamines - sometimes used to get through hard workouts while reducing calories and they also actually help with the weight loss process - and even anabolic steroids.
I'm not accusing anyone of anything dodgy but this is a very unusual health problem for a very fit young boxer to get and the reason for it must be found.