Luis Ortiz Vs. Tony Thompson & Sadam Ali
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LUIS ORTIZ VS. TONY THOMPSON & SADAM ALI VS. JESSE VARGAS MEDIA CONFERENCE CALL TRANSCRIPT OSCAR DE LA HOYA, Chairman and CEO of Golden Boy Promotions: Welcome, everyone, to the Luis Ortiz, Tony Thompson and Sadam Ali and Jessie Vargas media conference call. These will be two exciting matchups taking place on March 5th at the DC Armory in Washington D.C. Fresh from a stunning knockout of Bryant Jennings and obviously eager to continue his quest to be the best heavyweight in the sport, WBA heavyweight world champion, Luis “The Real King Kong” Ortiz will make his first title defense of 2016 when he faces former world title challenger Tony “The Tiger” Thompson who is 40-6 with 27 knockouts. It will be the main event in the 12-round fight for the WBA interim heavyweight title on March 5th. Ortiz versus Thompson is presented by Golden Boy Promotions, in association with King Kong Boxing and Warriors Boxing Promotions. Opening up the live HBO telecast on March 5th is the co-main event, top contender and 2008 Olympian Sadam “World Kid” Ali with a record of 22-0, 13 knockouts, will face former WBA super lightweight world Jessie Vargas who holds a record of 26-1 with nine knockouts. It’s a highly anticipated co-main event, and that will be for the vacant WBO welterweight world championship title. The Ali-Vargas is a co-feature. I see it as a 50-50 fight. The fans are eager to see who will be victorious. And it’s always a pleasure to be co-promoting this event, this fight, with Top Rank, in association with Top Rank. And at this moment I would also like to thank our event sponsor, Cerveza Tecate Born Bold. They’ve been a great new partner for us in 2016. I’m pleased to announce that the tickets are reasonably priced, starting at $25 all the way up to $100 for ringside seats, and you can get those tickets at ticketmaster.com. The doors will open at the DC Armory at 3:00 p.m. Eastern and the HBO Boxing After Dark telecast begins live at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Pacific. Obviously I’m very pleased and excited that these two incredible fights will be broadcast live on HBO, which is the best network for boxing. So now let me take this opportunity to introduce the president of Top Rank who will say a few words. We are pleased to be working with Top Rank and to put together this stacked event on March 5th. TODD DUBOEF, President of Top Rank: Thanks, Oscar. Welcome, everybody, to the conference call. Obviously co-promoting this with Golden Boy and this fight for HBO is highly anticipated. The welterweight division is just so robust and deep with talent and seems like for the last decade it’s just been a slew of fighters young and established that have been going through there. That’s what we will see in this semifinal, co-feature event on March 5th. As Top Rank, we’re the promoter of Jessie Vargas. Jessie is a former world champion, earned it the hard way. He had to be encouraged to go into the ring, and fought in China against DeMarco. He won that. He then went for the chance to fight Tim Bradley, which was a very close fight. Some people thought Jessie was very disappointed in the last minutes of the round where he thought he had Bradley out, where he could have secured a victory. He’s an action fighter. He’s always a gentleman. He’s classy. He’s managed by Cameron Dunkin. He’s the pride of Vegas, and he’s always held up in the gym late at night in Top Rank. At this point I’d like to introduce Jessie Vargas so he can try to earn his second world title. JESSIE VARGAS, Former World Champion and Number Four Contender for the vacant WBO Welterweight World Championship: Thank you, Todd. Good afternoon to everyone. First of all, I’m very thankful for this opportunity once again. And I want to thank Top Rank and everyone that made it possible. I’m glad to be back on HBO. And as you said, I always come to give the fans great fights. I’m an action-packed fighter and this fight will be no different, if not more, because I’m very eager and very anxious to come back strong and reclaim that WBO world title. I’m coming in with everything I’ve got, and I’m fully confident that I will come out victorious because of my preparation with my team. I’m also very thankful for the support that Top Rank has given me and that Top Rank will be in the house in Washington D.C. to see me win another world title. What can I say, I’m excited. And I’m planning on making Sadam Ali quit. That’s my goal, and I plan to achieve it. I’m not going to stop pushing from beginning to end. I’ve conditioned myself. I’ve prepared myself for that fight to come in busy basically and not leave it up to the judges. Just win a clear, decisive fight. And to be honest, like I said, my goal is to win by a tail. That’s my ultimate goal. I’ve shown the power that I can do so. It’s all about going in the fight and giving it my all, and I plan on doing so. OSCAR DE LA HOYA: Thank you. We can now ask the media, we can have a few questions for Vargas. Q. Tell me about what Cooper is doing with you in the gym that will allow you to win this fight. You said to me a couple of weeks ago that you’ve known each other since you were a kid. Now that you’re a man and you’re fighting for a second world title, what’s he emphasizing in the gym with you? What’s he doing to make you believe you can win this fight? JESSIE VARGAS: You know, just with him I’m throwing a lot of combinations, getting down on my punches, throwing the punches correctly. Just small things that needed correction and that we are putting together, just going back to the basics. Ultimately, it’s always just about going back to the basics. But I’m feeling very comfortable more than anything because I’m throwing more punches than I ever have. And that’s going to be needed in this fight, because we know that Ali is the type to run around and move around, and we’re going to hunt him down. Q. For you, you’re obviously still motivated by what happened at the StubHub Center. How do you keep that from being a negative in terms of wanting to win this title so bad that maybe you forget the things that you did well that gave you the chance to win in California that night? JESSIE VARGAS: Well, you know, it’s close to fire. I’m coming back with rage into this fight. I have that fire that I just want to destroy any opponent that’s in front of me, not wait until the last round or not let any second, any minute of the fight just go. I’m planning on fighting the entire fight. And I’ve prepared and I’m prepared to do so. And that’s what matters. That’s what I’ve learned from that fight. And I plan to just stay busy. Q. Following up on what Steve just asked you about working with Dewey in the gym, you’re with a new trainer again, and I’m wondering, I’m sure that there have been things you’ve learned from your different trainers, and obviously you’ve won a world title and become one of the top welterweights around. But I’m wondering your take on this: You’ve been a pro for eight years. He’s your sixth trainer by my count. What’s the deal with six trainers in eight years? It is highly unusual. JESSIE VARGAS: Yeah, it is. Well, you know, situations that I was put in just led me to either split, more than anything, just split. I’ve learned from each coach, and I have nothing but respect for them. But things are complicated. What can I say? One fighter — one trainer, unfortunately didn’t have the time for my camp, another trainer had to leave to be in training camp with another team while I was in training camp. And others, Robert Alcazar wanted to do training out of California, I was out of Las Vegas. So it’s just different things. With Roger, he was very sick, very ill. I wasn’t able to train with him any longer at that time. So it’s just the situation that was put in front of me at the moment is the things that led me to making a decision switching up, either me or them. But I’ve learned from every trainer, I can say that. And I’m learning from Dewey as well. So that’s a big benefit. Q. Obviously even having made a number of trainer changes over the last couple of years, you’re still 26-1. You’re still top- rated welterweight. You’re still a guy that won a world title. You’ve put in heck of a effort and performance against Tim Bradley.