Ortiz vs Stanionis rescheduled for April 29

Vergil Ortiz Jr and Eimantas Stanionis will now fight on 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.