Vergil Ortiz Jr to face Brad Solomon Dec. 13 on DAZN

Vergil Ortiz Jr, Golden Boy’s destructive young welterweight prospect, who is quickly turning into a contender, will face veteran Brad Solomon on Dec. 13, live on DAZN from Indio, California.

Ortiz, 21, has been slated to head out on Dec. 13 for a while now, with everyone just waiting to see whom the opponent would be. We’re getting Solomon, a 36-year-old former prospect who never quite broke through, but also just hasn’t been fighting a lot.

Ortiz is perfect so far as a pro at 14-0 (14 KO), and has officially made the move up from 140 to 147 with no problems. This year he’s turned some heads, destroying tough veteran Mauricio Herrera on May 4 and overwhelming Antonio Orozco on Aug. 10.

Solomon (28-1, 9 KO) is a Louisiana native who was kind of always on the cusp of going from prospect to at least a fringe contender, but just never really got there. He beat Demetrius Hopkins back in 2011, then stayed at or a bit below that level for a while. He took a split decision over Adrian Granados in 2015, then beat Raymond Serrano, but a 2016 loss to Konstantin Ponomarev was a real setback, and he’s all but disappeared.

Since the loss to Ponomarev, Solomon has fought twice. In 2017, he went to Panama and beat David Bency by decision, and in April 2018 he defeated Paddy Gallagher in Louisville.

“I’ve seen Brad Solomon’s record,” Ortiz said. “I’ve seen that he’s beaten Adrian Granados and Ray Robinson (in 2009), so you have to be pretty skilled to beat people like them. I don’t know how this fight ends, but you can all expect a great fight.”

“Vergil Ortiz Jr is a great young prospect,” said Solomon. “It’s going to be a good matchup. I’ve been out of the ring for about a year, so I have to come back and beat this young fighter. I have to show everyone in the welterweight division that I’m still here.”

Golden Boy will be busting out a bunch of other notable names for this card. Former super featherweight titleholder Alberto Machado will be in action, as will unbeaten super middleweight Erik Bazinyan. Welterweight prospect Alexis Rocha will take on Michael Perez, and junior welterweight prospect Luis Feliciano will face Herbert Acevedo. Lightweight Genaro Gamez will also be back.