Lithuanian welterweight Egidijus Kavaliauskas talks exclusively to proboxingfans.com ahead of this Saturday’s fight with Vergil Ortiz Jr.
Former world title challenger, Kavaliauskas (22-1-1, 18 KOs) meets rising star Ortiz Jr (17-0, 17 KOs) for the WBO International title at the Ford Center in Frisco, Texas, live on DAZN.
“My manager [Egis Klimas] called me maybe May and told me that Golden Boy were interested in making me against Vergil Ortiz,” the 33-year-old said.
“I said, ‘Yeah, we are on. Let’s do this fight!’ When they mentioned his name Vergil Ortiz Jr, I know he’s a tough guy, good boxer and right now he is one of the best up-and-coming prospects, so I was like yeah, let’s do this fight.
“I was very happy that this situation came up and I could fight on the Golden Boy and DAZN show. It is a big step up to fight on DAZN and [a great opportunity] to show DAZN fans my skills.”
Kavaliauskas is coming off an explosive performance, stopping Mikael Zewski in eight rounds last year.
“It was a good fight. I knew Zewski would be a tough opponent and I knew he was going to come to fight me.
“I knew that he was a pressure fighter but he I thought he would gas out. I knew that from round one I was just waiting for him to start gassing out!
“After round four or five I could tell that he does not have the speed or the power, so I was preparing my uppercut. I knew that I could stop him [before the fight], everything went to plan.”
Having spent the best part of a decade with Top Rank, the time has clearly come for Kavaliauskas to widen the net.
“We have gone apart from Top Rank and I am a free agent. They were always good with me, but it is now time to see other doors open up.
“We will go to DAZN for this next fight, we will see what is in the future after this fight.”
‘Mean Machine’ now finds himself in a nice position due to the vast majority of the stellar names being with PBC. A position he was clearly excited to be in.
“Yes for my personal boxing career I think it is going to be better, because there are more top welterweights with PBC. So nobody is holding me down, I’m available for all those fighters.”
Watch the full interview with ‘Mean Machine’ below:
