Vergil Ortiz Jr vs Eimantas Stanionis rescheduled for April 29

Vergil Ortiz Jr and Eimantas Stanionis will now meet on April 29, Mike Coppinger reports at ESPN.com, meaning just about a six-week delay from the fight’s original March 18 target date.

Golden Boy will promote the fight on DAZN from a Texas venue, after winning the purse bid in December. Stanionis, who will defend his secondary WBA “world” title, underwent an appendectomy a few weeks ago, which was the reason for the postponement.

Stanionis (14-0, 9 KO) won the secondary belt from Radzhab Butaev in his last fight, which came in April 2022 on the Spence vs Ugas undercard. He had been sitting as a potential option for Errol Spence Jr since that win, but with the WBA not making a mandatory order to consolidate Stanionis’ secondary belt with Spence’s title that people acknowledge, he’s free to take the ordered Ortiz defense instead.

Ortiz (19-0, 19 KO) was last out in August, stopping Michael McKinson in the ninth round. It was a turbulent 2022 for Ortiz, but mostly outside the ring, where he dealt with rhabdomyloysis, which postponed a March date with McKinson, and then failed negotiations to fight David Avanesyan, which put McKinson back into the slot against him in the summer.

This is still a great fight on paper, one of the best that can be made at 147 lbs, and it could be tremendous action in the ring, too.