{"id":252451,"date":"2025-11-09T04:34:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T04:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/252451\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T04:34:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T04:34:13","slug":"lubin-faces-last-strike-vs-ortiz-jr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/252451\/","title":{"rendered":"Lubin Faces \u201cLast Strike\u201d Vs Ortiz Jr."},"content":{"rendered":"

Roy Jones Jr. and Andre Ward believe that Saturday\u2019s fight will be Erickson Lubin\u2019s \u201clast strike\u201d in his career if he loses to Vergil Ortiz Jr. in their headliner on DAZN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It would be the 30-year-old Lubin\u2019s third defeat and would potentially end his chances of ever receiving another world title opportunity.<\/p>\n

Ward Sees No More Rebuilds Left<\/p>\n

The podcaster and former two-division world champion Ward notes that Lubin (27-2, 19 KOs) has gone through two rebuilds in the past after his stoppage losses to Jermell Charlo in 2017 and Sebastian Fundora in 2022. He was younger then, and had time to climb his way back.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeating somebody like Vergil, I\u2019d basically be replacing him,\u201d said Erickson to Golden Boy<\/a> about what he stands to accomplish by beating Ortiz Jr.<\/p>\n

Ortiz Jr. (23-0, 21 KOs) and Lubin will headline in a 12-round fight this Saturday, October 8th, at the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis might be Lubin\u2019s third strike. If he strikes out this time, he might not get another shot. I hope Lubin can catch a break, but it\u2019s going to be tough because Vergil Ortiz is peaking right now. I think he\u2019s the best matchup for a guy like \u2018Boots\u2019 Ennis,\u201d said Roy Jones Jr. to All the Smoke<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In theory, Lubin could rebuild if he does it quickly and takes risks by facing top-10 level contenders at 154. But the question is, could he defeat good enough fighters to claw his way back? Erickson would need to beat some of these top-notch guys to come back quickly:<\/p>\n

Brandon Adams
\nIsrail Madrimov
\nTim Tszyu
\nCharles Conwell<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got Lubin, who always seems like he\u2019s in a rebuild. He had the Charlo situation. He\u2019s in a rebuild. Then he had the Sebastian Fundora, and he got stopped in the ninth round,\u201d said Ward. \u201cVergil Ortiz is peaking. That\u2019s the best I\u2019ve seen him in his last fight. Erickson Lubin has to fight the perfect fight. Not because he can\u2019t take a shot. I believe this is a last strike for Lubin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lubin\u2019s Long Road Since Charlo<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that Lubin is always on a rebuild. The problem is that he spent too much time coming back from his first-round knockout loss to former undisputed 154-lb champion Jermell Charlo on October 14, 2017.<\/p>\n

In hindsight, Erickson should have never fought the then 27-year-old Charlo. Lubin was just 22 and had fought no one near the level of Jermell going into that fight. That was the first mistake. The second was burning through five years of tune-ups before stepping it up against \u2018The Towering Inferno\u2019 Fundora on April 9, 2022.<\/p>\n

Lubin does have a good chance of dethroning Vergil Jr. on Saturday night, as long as he boxes him the way Madrimov was doing earlier this year. He can\u2019t stand and fight Ortiz Jr. because he doesn\u2019t pack enough power to win that kind of fight. \u2018The Hammer\u2019 Lubin has got to move just enough to stay out of the way of Ortiz Jr., but he can\u2019t overdo it the way Madrimov did.\u00a0 He\u2019ll gas out and be at the mercy of Vergil\u2019s shots.<\/p>\n

\"YouTube<\/p>\n

Tom Galm has covered the global boxing scene since 2014, specializing in heavyweight analysis, business trends, and fighter psychology.<\/p>\n

Boxing News 24<\/a> \u00bb – An Analyst’s Perspective<\/a> \u00bb Roy Jones Jr. and Andre Ward Warn Erickson Lubin: \u201cThis Could Be His Last Strike\u201d Ahead of Vergil Ortiz Jr. Showdown<\/p>\n

Last Updated on 11\/08\/2025 \t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Roy Jones Jr. and Andre Ward believe that Saturday\u2019s fight will be Erickson Lubin\u2019s \u201clast strike\u201d in his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-252451","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}