Vergil Ortiz Jr. survived an early scare from Egidijus Kavaliauskas to drop him five times for the round 8 TKO to remain undefeated.
Welterweight Vergil Ortiz Jr. is seen as the future of boxing’s welterweight division, but challenger Egidijus Kavaliauskas had him in trouble early in their Aug. 14 bout from The Ford Center at The Star, in Frisco, TX.
Ortiz (18-0, 18 KOs) came into the contest as the clear favorite, but the Dallas, TX fighter had a hard time with ‘The Mean Machine’ Kavaliauskas in round 2. Kavaliauskas nailed Ortiz with an uppercut that wobbled the undefeated 23-year-old.
Kavaliauskas jumped all over Ortiz and belted him with shots. At one point, Ortiz went to the canvas from what appeared like a Kavaliauskas’ punch, but the referee ruled it a slip. That one might be debated for a while, but ultimately it didn’t matter.
Kavaliauskas (22-2-1, 18 KOs) was confident in round 3 and hurt Ortiz again with a right hand, but he woke Ortiz up. Ortiz came back firing shots and dropped Kavaliauskas with a left hook to the head.
Vergil Ortiz Jr. now has 18 wins all by knockout after his TKO victory over Egidijus Kavaliauskas
Kavaliauskas got up and made it through the round. He steadied his legs and was in the fight until round 8.
Things went downhill fast for Kavaliauskas in round 8. He took an Ortiz left hook to the body that sent him down for the second time. He got up but went down three more times before referee Laurence Cole stopped the fight giving Ortiz the round 8 TKO.
Ortiz leveled Kavaliauskas three times in a row with vicious left hooks. Ortiz’s chin was tested for the first time and he passed the test. He beat a solid opponent in style.
Kavaliauskas came into the fight with only one defeat coming against WBO champion Terence Crawford in 2019. Crawford stopped him in round 9.
Ortiz moves on and looks to continue to scare the welterweight division.