Steven Ortiz didn’t get the hometown rivalry showdown he wished.
What he does get, is the prospect to nonetheless combat on Showtime.
The Philadelphia-bred prospect will stay on the March 10 version of Showtime’s ShoBox sequence, as he’ll face New Orelans’ Jeremy Hill (14-0, 9KOs) in a battle of unbeaten lightweights. Each camps have confirmed the matchup to BoxingScene.com, with the combat to happen on the Mohegan Solar Area in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Headlining the present is the just lately introduced junior welterweight conflict between Brandun Lee (21-0, 19KOs) and Samuel Teah (17-3-1, 7KOs).
Hill replaces Philadelphia’s Damon Allen (16-1-1, 5KOs), who was pressured to withdraw after struggling a fractured proper hand throughout sparring. Quick efforts had been made to safe a top quality opponent to get accepted for the present, leaving to Hill who steps properly up in school for his televised debut. The 28-year previous light-weight at the very least has a wave of exercise working in his favor, managing to combat 4 occasions in 2020 together with three for the reason that coronavirus pandemic.
In his most up-to-date begin, Hill scored a third spherical stoppage of Travis Castellon final November in Daytona Seaside, Florida.
Conversely, Ortiz (11-0, 3KOs) has been out of the ring since an eight-round determination win over Alejandro Salinas in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, roughly 20 miles from his North Philadelphia hometown. The 27-year previous Boricua prospect was initially because of face Allen final March in South Philly, just for the occasion to get shut down by the beginning of the pandemic.
Additionally added to the present, rising light-weight prospect Victor Padilla (8-0, 7KOs) now has an opponent for his community debut. The 22-year previous southpaw from Berlin, New Jersey by means of Vieques, Puerto Rico will face Philadelphia’s Thomas ‘TJ’ Velasquez (10-0-1, 6KOs) in a scheduled eight-round battle.
Jake Donovan is a senior author for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
