Boxing 2020 32 2020-07-24 2020-07-24 Vergil Ortiz Jr. kicks off his 2020 campaign in style with a seventh-round stoppage of Samuel Vargas. It is a new era in boxing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced boxing events to be held without fans in attendance. But none of that mattered to Vergil Ortiz Jr. heading into his main event tilt against Samuel Vargas on Friday at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, Calif. Ortiz (16-0, 16 KOs) showed why he's not only one of boxing's rising stars but also a force to reckoned with in the welterweight division, running through Vargas to win by TKO with two seconds remaining in the seventh round. Ortiz and Vargas were set to lock horns at the end of March, but the coronavirus sent the sports world into lockdown and postponed the event two weeks beforehand. Fast forward four months later and Ortiz didn't miss a beat. He came out firing with a powerful jab and threw everything with conviction to let Vargas know that he wasn't coming to play around. The evidence was worn on Vargas' face early, with a bloody nose just three minutes into the action. That same trend continued as Ortiz kept pumping a hard jab and turning his hips ever so slightly to blast Vargas. Vargas was doing the best he could but was taking a savage beating. It got to the point where referee Jack Reiss had the ringside doctor check on Vargas between rounds four and five because he was absorbing a tremendous amount of punishment. Ortiz appeared to have taken the fifth round off, which also led to Vargas' best moments of the fight. He got the better of a couple of exchanges and started to gain some confidence heading into the second half of the contest. The confidence waned as Ortiz came back firing on all cylinders by pumping the hard jab and brutal right hands to the head and body in the following round. For the first time in his career, Ortiz saw the seventh round. But the native of Texas made sure he didn't see the eighth. He connected on a vicious right hand followed with a left hook to put Vargas on shaky legs. Seeing he had Vargas right where he wanted him, the 22-year-old started unloading until Vargas football tackled him to the ground. That wouldn't deter Ortiz whatsoever. He closed the show by continuing to blast Vargas until Reiss stepped to put an end to the fight. Even though he won in spectacular fashion, Ortiz didn't give himself a top grade. Regardless, Ortiz feels he's now ready for the upper echelon in a talent-rich welterweight division. "I was, like, a solid B+," Ortiz said in his post-fight interview. "That was my best opponent to date. I would like to fight someone like Danny Garcia or Keith Thurman.” 1053318