Undefeated WBC Youth World lightweight champion Jamaine “The Technician” Ortiz Missing Thanksgiving to fight on Tyson-Jones, Jr. card in L.A.
Many if not most Americans will
be enjoying a traditional Thanksgiving meal this Thursday, eating turkey,
stuffing and pie, along with watching pro football all day and night. Not
so, though, for undefeated lightweight prospect
*Jamaine “The Technician” Ortiz* (13-0, 7 KOs), who will be flying from
Boston to Los Angeles, to fight on Saturday night’s high-profile Mike
Tyson-Roy Jones, Jr. show at Staples Center.
Ortiz, the reigning World Boxing Council (WBC) Youth World lightweight
champion, will take on Ugandan southpaw *Sulaiman Segawa* (13-2-1, 4 KOs),
fighting out of Maryland, in an 8-round match for the vacant World Boxing
Council (WBC) USNBC (U.S) lightweight title.
The 24-year-old Ortiz will travel with his head coach, *Rocky Gonzalez*,
and cut-man *Kendrick Ball*, who will fill in for “The Godfather of
Worcester (MA), boxing,” *Carlos Garcia*. He will not travel cross-country
during the COVID-19 pandemic because of his advanced age. A National
Golden Gloves Hall of Fame trainer, Garcia was Ortiz’ first boxing coach as
an amateur, and he has worked his fellow Worcester resident’s corner during
Ortiz’ 4 ½-year professional career.
“Carlos will be with us in spirit,” Ortiz said. “We understand. Fighting is
my career and part of that is missing out on Thanksgiving this year. I’ll
be eating on the plane. This is more important, just business, part of my
job. It is what it is. I’m a big family person and I see them on a regular
basis, not just on holidays. I’ll get to eat my turkey when I return home.”
Ortiz like most boxers hasn’t been active due to the pandemic. His last
fight was this past February at home in Worcester when he stopped *Luis
Ronaldo Castillo* (22-5) in the second round.
Segawa’s last fight was an 8-round split draw with *Zhora Hamazaryan*
(9-1-1) in January. In 2018, he lost decisions to *Abraham Nova* (12-0) for
the vacant NABA super featherweight title and *William Foster* (7-0) for
the vacant crown. Ortiz knows both of those fighters well having defeated
Nova in the amateurs and New Haven’s Foster is a fellow New Englander.
“He’s a tough dude,” Ortiz spoke about Segawa. “His fight with Nova was
close (96-94, 96-94, 97-93). He took both the distance; they couldn’t take
him down. And he’s beaten some undefeated fighters (10-0 *Godwin
Rosa*, 6-0 *Brian
Gallegos*).
“He’s a good fighter who can win rounds. A slick fighter, but he can be a
little wild, and that can be dangerous. It’s going to be challenging for
me. I need to be smart, listen, and be tight. I can’t get caught when he
throws wild punches.”
Although Segawa is a replacement and the opposite of his original opponent,
Jamaine isn’t overly concerned that Segawa is a southpaw, even though he’s
only fought one lefty as a pro (Victor Rosas in 2018), because to some
extent he is ambidextrous.
“Luckily,” Ortiz concluded, “I had good sparring with a southpaw. I fight
left-handed a lot myself. I shoot basketballs left-handed, bat left-handed
in baseball, and arm wrestled with my left hand. A friend just sent me a
picture from 2007 and I was in a southpaw stance.”
Ortiz is promoted by *Jimmy Burchfield* (Classic Entertainment and Sports)
and advised by *Richard Shappy* and *Eddie Imondi*.
