Vergil Ortiz Jr. has dismissed Maurice Hooker’s claims that he has yet to prove he can take a hit.
Speaking to Ak & Barak on DAZN earlier in the week, Hooker wondered if his 22-year-old rival would be able to cope with taking sustained punches in their fight this Saturday, to be shown on DAZN. Ortiz has now appeared on the same show and was unimpressed.
"I'm not going to go in there to find out if I can take power or not," Ortiz said. "The whole point is to hit and not get hit, and I've taken shots before. I sparred 168-pounders. I can take a shot. I guess he can cling to that hope, whatever makes him feel better, but I know what I can take."
Hooker is moving up to 147 pounds to make the fight. Ortiz believes that it is an advantage for his rival to be able to do so and will not be treated as an excuse.
"If I don't get the credit, I don't think it will be because of that," Ortiz said. "I think that him going up in weight class would help him. A lot of people take it the bad way, moving up a weight. It just means his body can't make that weight class anymore. That means he's a true 147-pounder. He's going to feel stronger. He's not going to struggle. He's not going to feel weak anymore. I don't think the weight class is necessarily a problem for him."
While he did not want to get ahead of himself with a stern test to come, the 22-year-old has his eye on some future fights.
"Danny Garcia, [Terence] Crawford, I don't know if I want Spence yet at 147 or 154, probably [Yordenis] Ugas," Ortiz said. "I don't have any bad feelings towards him, but I would still like to fight him. I feel like he's an underrated fighter."