Boxing
Vergil Ortiz Jr.: Maurice Hooker didn’t want to get back up in the sixth
Watch Ortiz Jr. vs Hooker: Top 5 moments
Vergil Ortiz Jr. said he thinks he could have ended his fight with Maurice Hooker sooner had he begun with different tactics.
It took seven rounds for the 22-year-old contender to defeat Hooker, who was making his bow at welterweight. However, the Texan was first sent to the canvas in the sixth round before recovering.
Speaking to BoxingScene.com, Ortiz explained that he thinks he had his tactics slightly wrong at the start.
“At first, I started going for the head,” Ortiz said. “I thought I was going to take him out with a head shot, but he’s smarter than that. I started investing to the body and it got the job done.
“I should have done that from the beginning but it all worked out in the end.”
While the fight on Saturday closed out in the seventh, Ortiz believes the foundation of the win was laid the round before.
“I could tell the first time that I dropped him, that he didn’t want to get back up,” Ortiz said of the sixth.
“He was already demoralized. He got back up and the round ended but I could see it in his face that he didn’t want to continue. The second time, yes he got injured and they wouldn’t let him back up but I felt like I was going to finish him.”
Ortiz called for a fight with welterweight champion Terence Crawford in the aftermath, a fight which the WBO title holder believes is too soon for his younger rival.
